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5218 Lawton Avenue
Oakland, CA 94114

510-654-9159

Oliver McCrum Wines has been importing small production Italian wine and distributing to fine retail and restaurant establishes throughout California since 1994. Over time, our portfolio of producers has steadily grown to over 45 producers from 15 different regions of Italy. We look for typical Italian wines with clarity and freshness, usually made from indigenous Italian grape varieties using clean, transparent winemaking techniques and no obvious use of oak. 

Ignaz Niedrist

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High-elevation vineyard sites
One of the Alto Adige’s ‘Gang of Four’
Historic estate

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ABout Ignaz Niedrist:

The Italian region on the border with Austria, the Alto Adige, has long been known in the US for excellent co-operative wineries, but there are of course also small, family owned farms there. Many of these farms have been owned by the same families for hundreds of years, as it the case with the Niedrist farm; there is no Italian region with a stronger sense of its own identity than the Alto Adige (or South Tyrol, as it was known historically).

Ignaz is a brilliant grapegrower and winemaker with an impish smile; he makes a wide range of varieties with consistent style and attention to detail, from the stoney, mineral Pinot Bianco to a lush, musky Sauvignon; his reds represent the whole range of typical red varieties grown here, from the pale reddish pink of Schiava to the inky purple of Lagrein. His jewel of a cellar is just off the 'Wine Road' that runs through the important villages south of Bolzano, and his vineyards are mostly clustered around the cellar.It’s a privilege to represent these wines.

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The Wines:

Weissburgunder

 Some of the best white wines I have had from the Alto Adige have been made from Pinot Bianco (also called Weissburgunder). The best examples are minerally, earthy wines that will repay with 3-5 years in the cellar. The Terlaner zone seems to produce particularly good examples. Pale straw color in the glass; wet-stone aromas with hints of green apple and herbs; fresh, long and minerally on the palate. Drink now with seafood or vegetable appetisers, or age for up to 5 years.

Sauvignon

 Regarding Sauvignon, the Alto Adige produces some of the most distinctive examples of this variety anywhere. Ignaz's Sauvignon is textbook. Pale straw color, very varietal specific aroma of herbs, gooseberry, and a hint of apricot. These aromas carry through onto the palate, which is rich but with excellent fresh acidity; very long finish. Great with seafood or cured meat antipasti.

RIESLING

As a student in Germany, Ignaz developed a taste for Riesling and was soon to add the variety to the range of vines cultivated in his own vineyard. The combination of Dolomite limestone and an elevation gives the wine its fine peach and citrus aromas and crisp acidity. Notes of mountain flowers, herbs, and petrol, very rich and a long finish. Delicious with sausage or roast pork.

‘Trias’ Mitterberg Weiss

A unique and delicious blend of Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, and Manzoni Bianco, fermented partly in used wood and partly in stainless steel. Pale yellow with restrained yet complex aroma of honeysuckle, lemon curd, and a hint of vanilla. Excellent texture, long, slightly minty, a hint of oak, full-bodied and fresh at the same time. Roast chicken would be the perfect complement.

Lagrein ‘BErger Gei’

 The sub-zone of Gries is famous for Lagrein. This vineyard is owned by Ignaz's in-laws (hence the different label), but farmed and vinified by Ignaz, of course. Aged in small French oak barrels. Exciting deep opaque black-purple color with violet rim; aromas of blackberries and Assam tea-leaves; big, long, chewy finish. Drink now with braised meats or hold for 3-5 year

Pinot Nero Riserva

The Alto Adige is Italy’s best region for the production of Pinot Noir, and Ignaz Niedrist is one of its best producers. His Riserva bottling is grown in relatively warm vineyards near his winery. Yields are kept very low, at less less than 2 tons to the acre. The grapes are destemmed, crushed, then left at cold temperatures for few days (‘cold soak’) before fermentation starts in wooden fermenters. No yeasts are added. The wine is aged in barriques (1/4 new) on the fine lees for about 14 months before bottling.

Classic color for the variety, pale red with a broad rim. Aromas and flavors of red fruits, forest-floor, cola and mint. Shows a silky texture with some tea-like tannins on the finish. Drinkable young but will repay aging for 5-10 years in your cellar. Lamb chops or roast chicken would be great complements.

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more information:

Visit the Ignaz Niedrist website

Cellar Video Tour with Alto Adige’s ‘Gang of Four’