This is our second year offering the wines of Castel Juval Unterrotl, a tiny estate with just four hectares of vines clinging to the granite rocks of the Dolomites close to the Austrian border. The land is owned by the family of legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who lived in the castle until last year, but the winemaking is now in the hands of ‘Swiss-born Kiwis’ Raphael and Christine Burki. These are wines from an extreme terroir; steep, south-facing slopes allow sunny exposure to the vines while the meagre soils and cool climate provide perfect conditions for the production of steely, highly aromatic wines. These are elegant, pure, subtle wines that possess a rare finesse.