LAPIS

Lapis — from the Latin for stone — is the most serious and most age-worthy white wine in the WIR estate portfolio: a Pinot Blanc of strength, minerality, structure, and long ageing potential that Andi Sölva produces with a production protocol of almost a year in 500-litre wooden barrels followed by six months in bottle. The name identifies this wine with the stone character of its specific soil — the geological solidity and mineral density that the Latin lapis perfectly captures, and that this wine expresses in its most complete form.

Where the Südtiroler Weisser Burgunder DOC is produced from calcareous gravel at 550 metres with a lighter vessel approach, Lapis takes the Pinot Blanc variety through a more intensive and more extended wood ageing process that develops a wine of substantially greater structure and longevity. The 500-litre wooden barrel — the same size used for the Salis Sauvignon Blanc's dominant ageing component — provides a gentle but meaningful wood contact over almost a year, developing the complexity and the textural richness that an age-worthy Pinot Blanc requires.

Strength, minerality, structure, and long ageing potential are the four qualities that the WIR estate identifies as Lapis's defining characteristics — a four-quality description of unusual precision that reflects the winemaker's clear understanding of what this wine is and what it is designed to become over time. These are not qualities that a Pinot Blanc achieves without genuine commitment to extended ageing and careful production management.

Lapis is the wine for the serious white wine collector in the UniqueWines clientele — one who understands that the finest expressions of seemingly accessible varieties often require the most patient approach. Almost a year in wood, six months in bottle, and then the patience of the cellar: these are the conditions under which Lapis reveals its full potential.

Available through UniqueWines.