Why it matters
The producer
Martin Gojer farms four steep hectares above the Bolzano basin in South Tyrol, the German-speaking province at the northern tip of Italy where the Alto Adige DOC covers most of the valley and plateau wines. His estate, Pranzegg, sits in the hamlet of Campill and spreads across several parcels: Kampill, close to the city; Signat; and two higher sites, Unter- and Oberplatten, on the Ritten plateau.
Pranzegg makes roughly 20,000 to 25,000 bottles each year, around two-thirds red and one-third white. All the wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts, aged in used wooden barrels and concrete, and left unfined and unfiltered with minimal added sulfur. Martin and Marion Gojer run the estate with family, employees and friends.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Bolzano basin is a sheltered valley where summer heat concentrates and warm air rises from the valley floor into the vineyards on the surrounding slopes. At Kampill, that warmth is direct; the vines sit close to the city and ripen in conditions that push colour and ripeness into the indigenous red varieties. The Ritten sites work differently. At higher elevation, cool air arrives from above and the nights are significantly colder, slowing ripeness and preserving the natural acidity in both red and white grapes.
Most Alto Adige wines carry the variety on the label: Schiava, Lagrein, Pinot Bianco, Gewürztraminer. The DOC permits a wide range of grapes across the province, and Pranzegg draws on most of them. The contrast between the lower city-adjacent parcels and the plateau sites above gives Martin a range of raw material that no single altitude could supply.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Biodynamic farming at Pranzegg means timing vineyard work to natural cycles and using no synthetic chemicals, which on steep parcels demands more physical labour than flat commercial vineyards accept. Manual harvesting on these slopes is not a marketing choice; the terrain leaves no alternative.
In the cellar, Martin uses indigenous yeasts rather than commercial cultures, which means fermentation starts and moves at the pace the natural yeast population sets rather than a calibrated commercial schedule. Tonsur, the estate white blend, undergoes five days of skin maceration in concrete with fifty per cent whole stems before pressing, a choice that adds texture and bitter-edged grip to the wine in place of the clean aromatic lift that early pressing would deliver. Extended lees contact after fermentation adds body and a faint savoury depth. Used wooden barrels and concrete are the only vessels, so no new oak flavour enters the wines. No fining, no filtration.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range divides cleanly between white and red, with three named bottles confirmed across the current releases.
Tonsur is the white, a blend of Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Bianco, Sylvaner and Chardonnay from the 2024 vintage. Skin maceration gives it amber tints, grip on the palate and a textured weight that white wines made without skin contact never develop. Yellow fruit and herbal notes sit alongside spice from the stems, the body is medium-full, and the lees contact extends the finish. It is not a conventional aromatic white; it is closer in weight and feel to a light red than to the crisp, clean whites most Alto Adige producers bottle from the same grapes.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Tonsur. It is a Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Bianco, Sylvaner and Chardonnay blend that has been macerated on its skins for five days in concrete with half the stems included. Tonsur remains in concrete on its fine lees until spring. Yellow fruit and herbal notes come first, then a textured mid-palate from the lees ageing, then a bitter, mineral finish. No oak, no fining, no filtration. It explains, in one bottle, what Martin Gojer is doing with the same varieties that Alto Adige producers bottle as clean, fragrant, early-drinking whites: he is pushing them in a completely different direction.