Santa Maddalena

Santa Maddalena — St. Magdalener in the German that most of its growers speak — comes from the steep porphyry hillsides directly above Bolzano, the warmest corner of Alto Adige. It is Schiava at its most serious: pale and luminous rather than dark, light-bodied, low in tannin, smelling of strawberry and red cherry with a violet lift and the almond-and-marzipan finish that is the appellation's signature. It is the Alpine lunch red, and it is meant to be served cool.