Trentino-Alto Adige: Pushing the Limits

BY ERIC GUIDO | MARCH 26, 2024

In a region where producers speak of how favorable climate change has been to them, winemakers in Trentino-Alto Adige are now starting to feel its adverse effects. For years now, I’ve sat and listened to the logic of how the warming trends observed worldwide only helped producers here achieve ideal ripeness with varieties that struggled in the past. An excellent example of this is the surge in serious Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, which is now starting to perform at levels that were never possible in the past. Teroldego from Trentino and Alto Adige shows tremendous depth and complexity without using any small oak or any oak at all. I am surprised each year that I visit and taste single-vineyard Pinots or Bordeaux blends that impress me while doing a wonderful job of communicating a sense of place. However, this success has been at the expense of many other varieties that now struggle to achieve balance.

The village of Kurtatsch and its surrounding vineyards.

A perfect example is the St. Magdalener DOC, situated around the capital city of Bolzano. Despite being a city in Italy’s most northern region and surrounded by the alpine influences of the Dolomites, Bolzano has long been one of Italy’s warmest locations as it sits in a heat sink at lower elevations at the base of three converging valleys. The warmer temperatures here meant that for many years, the Lagrein and Schiava grapes that make up the St. Magdalener DOC could ripen and create wines with stunning depths of fruit, bracing acidity and a peppery alpine feel. Unfortunately, the changing climate has been stripping these wines of some of their energy and verve in recent years., I have experienced these odd changes firsthand, having traveled multiple times to Bolzano in December and January. During my visits, I’ve walked the city in just a light coat and hiked up the surrounding vineyards wearing only a sweater. 

Many whites in the region are now starting to show issues with balance and come across as overly rich, nearly glycerol in texture, and sometimes cloying with fruit ripeness. While this isn’t the case throughout all of Alto Adige as you travel further north along the Isarco or Adige valleys, the writing is on the wall. Even in the region’s cooler locations, things are changing; it’s just that the effect hasn’t been as noticeable up until now. Throughout Trentino and the southern half of Alto Adige, vineyards that once created many crisp, acid-driven and mineral whites are now simply too warm to recreate this style. Granted, there are ways that producers seek to combat these issues, one being elevation, yet this isn’t a perfect answer either. With higher elevations comes a new set of challenges, the most notable being frost. The higher a producer goes into the mountains, the shorter the growing season will become, and with that, the less likely to achieve polyphenolic ripeness. Purposefully picking earlier is another option, yet it is also imperfect, as the underripe grapes tend to show their greenness in the finished wines. If a consumer drinks them cold enough and the acidity is high enough, it can make for an exciting experience but a flawed one all the same. Otherwise, producers must depend on shading their fruit through canopy management. One even commented to me that the hail nets seen throughout the region have had a positive effect, as they filter the sun's rays. Unfortunately, of all the techniques mentioned above, there isn’t one answer. 

It is now becoming normal to find Sauvignon that is pungently over-ripe and spicy on the nose and palate or Pinot Grigio and Pinot Bianco that push 14% alcohol. The same goes for Sylvaner and Kerner, which can present an experience that makes it difficult to get through more than one glass. With all that said, producers are not at the breaking point. Balance can be achieved by reorganizing plantings and finding the right location for a suitable variety. This is something that I hope Alto Adige’s new UGA project will help alleviate (more on that later). There are many gorgeous, acid and mineral-driven whites in this report, yet many more show the dry warmth of recent vintages.

Old vines in the St. Magdalener DOC surrounding Bolzano.

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