Alois Lageder The Alois Lageder family winery is the home of high-quality wines from Alto Adige, Italy’s most northern wine producing region, nestled on the Dolomite foothills, in the heart of the Alps. In accordance with the family’s holistic understanding and approach in viticulture and winemaking, Alois Lageder creates wines that contain both the force and harmony of nature within them. Established in 1823, the company is now in the hands of the family’s fifth and sixth generations of the family. Nature can be cultivated, but not easily tamed. While steeped in the landscape of Alto Adige, which is shaped by timeless traditions of agriculture, Alois Lageder is equally open to the spirit of the modern world: his convictions have led him to opt for a way of life that is close to nature, and supports sustainable methods of operation. "We have to work in a spirit of respect for nature, protecting its resources and tapping their potential in ways that safeguard them: this is the key to preserving an earth worth living in for future generations: an abundant earth which will produce authentic wines into the future." Löwengang is a highly ambitious project that takes its point of origin in the concept of a symbiosis of nature and technology, heaven and earth, past history and future prospects. The type of biodynamic agriculture that Alois Lageder envisions, and has realized, finds its center in man and his natural environment, inadvanced technology in an intimate bond with ecological foresight. It expresses a traditional spirit, as well as the courage for innovation, where everything has its place, including art. Here, art is as an expression of nature, Nature as Gesamtkunstwerk. Quality is rooted in this soil: dolomitic rock, glacial moraine, porphyry. Slopes that range from the gentlest to the steepest in selected vinicultural areas of Alto Adige are solid foundations for high grape quality. Alois Lageder is deeply committed to the perfect equation of varieties of grapes planted in the right terrain. Every sort of grape has its preferences, every exposure its special features, and this knowledge is further combined with the elevated standards that govern the working of the vineyards: day in and day out, by experienced vineyard workers whose efforts prepare the ground for a harvest of exceptional wines. The climate of Alto Adige runs from Alpine to Mediterranean, and the region is blessed with an exceptional number of perfectly sunny days-prime conditions for a wide variety of grapes. Rather than single-crop planting, Alois Lageder encourages the cultivation of multiple varieties in any given vineyard and the use of compost over artificial fertilizers. The goal is biological balance. When it services quality, the top priority, Alois Lageder breaks with tradition. He has abandoned the pergola in favor of a trellis system, and practices integrated agriculture in the interest of long term environmental protection. Vineyard work is regulated by the cycles and rhythms of nature, from the pruning of the vines until harvest. Nature is the source of inspiration for new ideas and goals. Our earth's resources are limited. Alois Lageder therefore relies on natural and renewable energy sources: solar energy, geo-thermic warmth, natural convection currents. The natural face of cliff-side rock along one cellar wall of the estate is a year-round guarantee of constant temperature. The sun above Magrè does more than ripen the grapes: it also fuels the modern photovoltaic plant that supplies the winery with electricity-beneficial for man, and nature. It also benefits the people and the wines at Löwengang and Hirschprunn, creating a healthy environment in which they can fully unfold their energies. For the delicate process of vinification, Alois Lageder enlists the natural law of gravity. The grapes glide gently down the Vinification Tower from one level to the next, through the various successive stages of their transformation; from grape, to must, to wine. Combining technology with the natural force of gravity makes vinification for a much more gentle process. It shortens paths and displacements, increases efficiency, and preserves quality. The vision of sustainable methods of operation has been truly and effectively put into practice. The task of the cellars is to preserve and enhance the quality the grapes have arrived at in the vineyards. Beneath the expert hand of the master vintner, full-bodied wines ripen in traditional oak barrels. The wines' own rhythms articulate time, and space takes on a new dimension and inspiration. These are wines that carry the unique characteristics of their origins within themselves, combining elegance and finesse with body and strength; they reveal that the best wines of Alto Adige belong to the ranks of the world's finest.