2011 Abbazia di Novacella Kerner

My husband gave me a little tasting test one early evening after working on the land. He brought out two glasses of a white wine, one for him and one for me and asked me to guess what it was. I was surprised by it's fragrant, floral nose and honeydew flavor with crisp acidity. What was this? Virginia Viognier was my guess. My second guess was "Riesling", close but no cigar was the answer. In the end, I would never have guessed it because Kerner was a grape variety that I have never had before. In Jancis Robinson's book, Wine Grapes, the entry for Kerner mentions that it is a cross between Riesling and Schiava grossa, bred by August Herold at the Weinsberg research centre.¹ The Schiava grossa is also known as Vernatsch, Trollinger or Black Hamburg, yes, a red grape variety!
Kerner is grown in the northern most wine region in Italy called the Alto Adige also known as the Südtirol due to its bicultural Italian-Austrian heritage.² The Kerner buds late, giving it good frost resistance and ripens mid to late, making this grape a good candidate for cooler climates. Jancis Robinson also wrote that Kerner is grown in Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan. Now, that is cold tolerance!
Update: My husband found an online article from the San Francisco Chronicle on Alto Adige's white wines charm - in 2 languages. This article mentions that Abbazia di Novacella is a historic abbey in the Isarco Valley. The Kerner label is in two languages, Italian and German, so Abbazia di Novacella could also be called Kloster Neustift. That clarified for me, what Stiftskellerei Neustift stood for.
References:
1. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 502-503, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.
2. Südtirol Wein Vini Alto Adige.
Additional Information:
Wikipedia Entry for Kerner Grape.