2017 Elena Walch Beyond The Clouds
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Tasting notes
The 2017 Alto Adige Beyond The Clouds shows fragrant white flower aromas with a clear hydrocarbon-like signature of petrol and diesel fuel. Those latter aromas are even more pronounced in a hot and dry vintage such as this that tends to concentrate overall flavors and extract. This wine opens to a pretty golden appearance with tropical fruit aromas and a heavy, mid-weight texture. I would suggest a shorter drinking window here compared to recent past editions of this wine from cooler vintages. The base of the blend is Chardonnay, but many other white varieties are mixed in. Some 14,000 bottles were made.
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James Suckling
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
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This is always an eye-catching white, but 2017 is on another level. It takes you on a journey through a field of buttercups and edelweiss, before moving through riper notes of mangoes and apricot pastries. Candied citrus is always lingering in the background. The palate is where it really goes into another realm, though, opening through agile mineral and stoney nuances into denser tropical and stone fruit and then onto rich, structured phenolics. The salty finish is seemingly endless with acidity that sabers through the lightly oxidative aftertaste with subtle reduction. What a wine! This has to be the best ever from here â by a mile. Drink now.