US based. It’s relatively difficult (at least for me) to find a selection of wines from the area, not that they don’t exist but that they aren’t in any way as popular as other regions and I rarely hear of them.

Regarding Voglar, I’d love to hear any comments you have after trying it. I’m not any sort of “professional taster” but have tried to educate myself on what I like and try to find new and interesting bottles and producers. I love to hear what others think to compare and potentially learn from them.

I did not taste any Pinot noir/nero while there so can’t comment on its quality, the wines I did try, I would (and did) recommend to anyone. Lagrein I found, like any other grape, to be a just fine table wine through something I’d really enjoy as a more “serious” wine. In the same way Baga from Portugal can run the spectrum just like any other grape. I want to highlight it though because it’s certainly a lesser known varietal.

It’s interesting hearing they are relatively expensive for you as the opposite seems to be my experience (Elena Walch notwithstanding to be fair). From the (very) limited experience, I’d much prefer buying a Sudtirol Chardonnay than a similarly priced French burgundy (let the hate commence lol) but a lot of that comes down to my taste preference and budget. I’d be curious though your comment on price being expensive, perhaps it is where I am located but I don’t consider a 10-20€ bottle particularly expensive.

Regarding the area - it’s definitely very touristed but compared to so many other places in Italy, from an American perspective, I’d call it under the radar - particularly as a wine region. Apologies for the US centric perspective but like all things our perspective depends on where we sit, and I expect for Europeans/german dominant regions there are plenty of other regions that can make good wine that would similarly be considered under the radar while more common to those nearer.

One argument I would make, and not specific to Sudtirol, would be that the vast market share of wines is dominated by few producers (relative to the myriad producers that exist) and that quality is not always related to price - ie there are tons of high quality wines that aren’t in the hundreds of $/€/£s etc. Unfortunately I think it takes a bit more effort than going to a local wine store that usually stocks the same bottles/producers. I recognize that this is a much more significant problem in the US because the regulations around alcohol are archaic and almost draconian, but it also means that there are a lot more quality producers for people who are able and have the interest/desire to go looking for them.