Kerner

Kerner is a white crossing of Trollinger (Schiava) and Riesling, bred in Württemberg in 1929 and named for the poet Justinus Kerner. It shares Riesling's backbone of acidity but ripens more easily, giving aromatic wines of apricot, green apple, white flowers and a slight muscat note. In Germany it is widely planted in the Pfalz and Rheinhessen, but its most celebrated expression comes from Italy's Alto Adige and especially the Valle Isarco, where high, cold vineyards make Kerner crisp, mineral and remarkably precise. It also does well in England and Japan's Hokkaido.