Alois Lageder

Winery Alois Lageder – Biodynamic and Innovative

The family winery Alois Lageder is synonymous with the highest quality standards in viticulture and winemaking, with a sustainable, holistic corporate philosophy, and with a wide range of cultural and artistic activities. Founded in the 19th century and now run by Alois Lageder IV and Clemens Alois Lageder in the fifth and sixth generation, it combines tradition and innovation. Clemens Lageder’s sisters Anna and Helena have also joined the winery and are responsible for sales, event organization, and external representation.

The winery began in 1823, when the journeyman craftsman Johann Lageder started trading wine. In the next generation, the family acquired vineyards of their own and began making wine. In 1934, Alois III Lageder recognized the potential slumbering in South Tyrol and purchased the Ansitz Löwengang estate in Margreid. Before long, they also began processing grapes from other winegrowers. After Alois’s early death, the estate was initially run by his wife Christiane and daughter Wendelgard; in the mid-seventies, son Alois IV joined them. Wendelgard’s husband, oenologist Luis von Dellemann, completed the management team, and they began to focus the winery on quality and to use innovative methods in cellar and vineyard. 

Close to Nature

The wine range of Alois Lageder represents the extraordinary diversity of the South Tyrol region and its broad palette of grape varieties. The wines are made from grapes grown according to biodynamic principles in the approximately 50 hectares of family-owned vineyards, as well as from grapes sourced from vineyards of long-standing grower partnerships. This close collaboration with contract growers from various areas of South Tyrol is a key element of the company’s history. The sustainable approach in agriculture has also been extended to the winery’s architecture. “Bringing nature into the house” was the guiding idea in the construction of the new cellar, which was inaugurated in 1995. The project was soon recognized as a forerunner of a boom in contemporary architecture in South Tyrol. Solar systems, hydropower, and geothermal energy ensure the greatest possible independence from fossil fuels.

The Lageder family understands their winery, in accordance with the principles of biodynamics, as a closed cycle that functions in itself. In practice, this means that no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, or mineral fertilizers are used; instead, they rely on homeopathic teas or preparations according to biodynamic teachings. The vineyard is supported by cover crops, additional greening with shrubs, and animals living among the vines. Their own compost is used for fertilization. Careful observation of the movement of celestial bodies and natural cycles is also a principle that is applied in the cultivation of the vineyards.

Cellar and Portfolio of the Alois Lageder Winery

In the cellar, the Lageder philosophy continues: processes that are as close to nature as possible meet modern innovation. The grapes should be vinified with as little influence as possible from factors outside nature; quality is created in the vineyard and should be preserved through careful processes in the cellar. An experienced, well-trained team is just as essential here as the curiosity for new knowledge and the latest developments in the wine world, which bring the Lageders closer to their goal of natural wine.

For transporting the grapes, they rely on the classic method of gravity, the gentlest way to move the must. In their cellar, the Lageders have a so-called “cellar tower” 17 meters deep, in which the must is transported step by step downward. Starting at the top with the stainless steel tanks, the barrels are at the bottom, where the winery’s finest wines mature.

The Wines of Alois Lageder

The winery’s portfolio is divided into classic varietal wines, for example from:

• Pinot Blanc
• Chardonnay
• Schiava (Vernatsch)
• Lagrein

the Compositions, for which selected wines from specific vineyards are produced for an optimal result, and the Masterpieces, which come from the best biodynamically farmed parcels of the estate. The Comets hold a special position; true to their name, they are unique compositions that each year display a character all their own. Finally, the Rarum wines form the winery’s reserve, with long maturation periods. These wines are originally vinified as Masterpieces but then set aside and left to themselves for a number of years. The corresponding wines are selected anew each year, depending on which wine proves to be outstanding.