Andi Sölva

From the family vines to the cellar

Pruning still starts in the vineyard before any cellar decision can matter. Andi Sölva , winemaker at Andi Sölva in Kaltern, has worked this way since taking charge of his parents' vines in 2005, then vinifying his own wines from 2007. The station is small enough that vineyard, cellar, and family practice remain close to one another. He is not presented here through a formal school or a named mentor; the lineage is the family ground itself, and the daily repetition of Kaltern am See. That matters in South Tyrol, where wine is not separate from the slope, the wind, or the village calendar. Sölva's work follows the year rather than a house style imposed afterward: pruning, watching the fruit, harvesting, then making the cellar choices that keep Vernatsch, Pinot Bianco, and Riesling distinct. The estate is organic and garage-scale, with less romance than labor. On this footprint, the maker stays close to the vines because there is no other way to keep the method legible.

Old Vernatsch and a narrow scale

The production sits at roughly 600 cases a year from about 1.5 to 2.1 hectares, a size that gives each parcel consequence. The lower vineyards, including Pulvernoa, Plantaditsch, and Palurisch, sit around 300 meters and carry Vernatsch, also known as Schiava. Some of those vines are described as 80 to 100 years old. Higher ground, including Riegel Malga and Riegel Hochleiten at about 550 meters, brings cooler conditions for Pinot Bianco and Riesling; Riegel Hochleiten also carries Riesling. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat, and cuvées belong to the wider set of wines, but the central discipline remains the dialogue among Vernatsch, Pinot Bianco, and Riesling. Since 2007 the cellar has worked with estate grapes, keeping the fruit inside one set of hands from vineyard to fermentation. The wines are made under Alto Adige / Südtirol DOC, with Kalterersee as the local point of reference and the Kalterer Sea Charta adding a stricter regional frame.

A garage cellar in Kaltern

The place itself is modest: a small artisanal winery in the village of Kaltern, with vines on the surrounding hillsides and a cellar that also receives visitors for focused tastings. It is quiet by nature, more bench-side than salon. The room does not ask for attention through design; it returns the conversation to the vineyard work, the slope, the vintage, and the decisions made after the fruit comes in. In a tasting, the scale is part of the information. Around 600 cases is not a marketing posture here; it is the practical size of the work. The family-run atmosphere keeps the exchange close, and the wines are largely taken up by local drinkers before they travel far. That local pull gives the cellar its particular pressure.

Kalterersee as the anchor

The house has a regional thread that runs through the work: Kalterersee, the wine tied to this place and to Sölva's cellar practice. His next move is the same one that has shaped the estate since 2007, the vineyard year returning to Pulvernoa, Plantaditsch, Palurisch, Riegel Malga, and Riegel Hochleiten.