Savour it. The crisp, cool sip from a bottle of regional wine as you sit at the top of a mountain, basking in the alpine sun. A moment of silence consumes you, as you indulge yourself in the refreshing delight of your tastebuds, breathing in fresh mountainous air and embracing your surroundings, engulfed by a white utopia of snow. For the avid skier who prides themselves on being a judge of good wines, the combination of these two passions makes for an unbeatable holiday. The Alta Badia ski resort, situated in the heart of the Dolomite mountains, renowned for its fine culinary experiences and its infamous ‘Sommelier on the slopes,’ is the wine connoisseur’s paradise.

The resort itself is found in the upper regions of the Val Badia in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Alta Badia’s centrality to Dolomiti Superski – the world’s biggest ski carousel – ensures it is a popular resort with extensive ski opportunities. The resort is all the more attractive as a result of its culinary and wine appreciation events, notably the notorious ‘Sommelier on the slopes,’ which occurs several times between December and March. The Sommelier on the slopes is a local wine tasting event which takes place – quite literally – on the slopes, making for an interesting journey down them once guests have discovered, and tasted, stunning Tyrol wines.

Dubbed as the ‘Eldorado for connoisseurs,’ the Sommelier on the slopes has been a huge sensation since its launch in 2015, drawing wine lovers from all over the globe to Alta Badia’s 130km of runs and breath-taking scenery in the UNESCO world heritage site recognised region.

The unmissable Sommelier on the slopes ensures a combination of incredible skiing with a unique and intimate wine-tasting experience. Participants are accompanied by an expert sommelier and ski guide on a three-hour tour to help navigate them both on the slopes and through the event, where they have the opportunity to taste some of South Tyrol’s most premium wines.

The wine tasting itself takes place in various ski huts, which participants ski in succession through to sample wines in accordance with the South Tyrol Wine Consortium, which follows the Italian Sommelier Association’s wine tasting scheme. Participants will be guided by their Sommelier to look first at the visual characteristics of the wines, followed by olfactory elements, and ending with everyone’s favourite part: the gustative.

At the Sommelier on the slopes, there is no such thing as an acceptable time to start drinking. The resort’s renowned Sommelier, Hubert Kastlunger, previously stated that it is, “never too early for good South Tyrolean wine.” Participants are served a wide range of wines including sparkling, white and red wines, and are taught about the grape and also the process that occurs to enable the wine’s production. The wines vary from hut to hut, and the participating ski huts include: Ütia I Tablá, Ütia de Bioch, Ütia Las Vegas, Club Moritzino and Ütia Pic Pré.

Alta Badia, however, is a resort not only for the wine connoisseur, but also the skier who enjoys fine cuisine and more definitively, the Michelin star experience. The resort is acclaimed for its unique wine tasting experience which takes form in the Sommelier on the slopes, however, its culinary events are also at the forefront of the Alta Badia’s appeal. The ‘Gourmet Skisafari’, which kicks off Alta Badia’s winter season, combines a Michelin star cooking experience with skiing on exhilarating slopes. Similar to the Sommelier on the slopes, participants can ski to various mountain huts where Michelin-starred chefs cook stunning dishes using local, high quality produce.

Alta Badia’s gourmet events are wrapped up in its ‘A taste for skiing’ programme, which runs throughout the winter season from December to April. The chefs who take part in the culinary events throughout the season create a signature dish fuelled by sustainability by creating waste-reducing dishes, whilst using the finest Italian ingredients. Many of the participating chefs have links to Alta Badia, and thus each dish is cooked with the highest knowledge of local produce, making the food all the more special, and most importantly, delicious.

The South Tyrolean wines tasted at the Sommelier on the slopes are paired with dishes prepared throughout A taste for skiing, and so, participants have the most sensory-pleasing dining experiences resulting from perfectly matched wine and food combinations of the South Tyrol region.

The Alta Badia resort really has it all: Unmatched skiing, breathtaking scenery within a UNESCO world heritage site, and most significantly, completely unique wine-tasting and culinary experiences. What the avid skier will know is that, as much as a ski vacation is about freeing your body and mind as you race down the mountain, the culinary experiences are equally as important.