A super juice operation

"After finishing my training, I felt that I wanted to try something new. Fruit farming was my goal, and I asked myself: How do apples grow in the mountains, at almost 1,000 metres? By nature, they tend to grow in the valley," recalls Thomas Kohl, looking back at his beginnings. He has taken bold steps to this day, completely converting his family farm – where his grandfather and father had raised livestock – to near-natural apple cultivation.

And it worked! At this altitude where Unterinn on Ritten is situated, the apples officially qualify as mountain apples. Vines are no longer found here, but the mountain apples thrive magnificently. They love the more intense sunlight and the cool wind that rushes down from the mountain peaks in the evening. They develop a fascinating "sugar-acidity interplay" that is truly unique.

Apple farming alone was not enough for Thomas Kohl. He wanted to create something different, something special, something of his own. The obvious thing was to look beyond his own garden fence – or rather, down into the valley. Down to where wine grows in South Tyrol. If you look closely – as Thomas Kohl did – you notice: much is similar between grapes and apples, between varieties and sites. And so this South Tyrolean transformed the humble mass-market beverage apple juice into something truly special.

He presses apples by single variety and fills the juice into elegant bottles. You do not simply gulp down such a fine beverage as a thirst quencher or dilute it into a spritzer. You may savour it, well chilled at eight to ten degrees and in the proper glass.

As a pioneer, Thomas Kohl had to figure out much on his own. In the search for the right varieties for mountain cultivation, for the best "cuvées" and for top-class quality, he experimented extensively. And he continues to do so.

Fruit at altitude – with sweet fruitiness and plenty of acidity at the same time!