An Italian cantina with Austrian heritage, Franz Pratzner began to focus exclusively on winegrowing in the early 1990s in Italy’s Südtirol. The organically certified and steeply terraced vineyards of Falkenstein sit between 550-900m and are grown on a mix of slate, schist, gneiss, and granite bedrock with a pale white, sandy topsoil. Their underground cave is meticulously cared for and full of gorgeously preserved old medium-sized 10hl acacia barrels used for their white wines (and two 40hl botti used exclusively for their Rieslings) and French Burgundy barrels for the Pinot Noir. Riesling is the cornerstone of the production and theirs stand perhaps as the best examples in Italy.