Trentino: New Releases

BY IAN D'AGATA | JANUARY 8, 2019

While it is common to refer to Trentino and Alto Adige as one region, Trentino and Alto Adige, are in fact, quite different from historical, geographic, and social perspectives. The simplest way to differentiate between Trentino and Alto Adige is that the former is Italian-speaking and the latter (also known as Südtirol) is mostly German-speaking, as it was annexed by Italy after World War I. But the differences in terms of grape varieties and wines are just as big. Ampelographically, Trentino’s most typical native white grape is Nosiola, while its emblematic red varieties are Marzemino, grown along the banks of the Adige River (and which, unless the grapes are air-dried, gives a light to medium-bodied, fresh wine) and Teroldego (a much bigger red), grown especially on the Rotaliana plain in the Valle dell'Adige to the north of Trento. None of these three grapes are typical of nor grown much (if at all) in Alto Adige. Last but not least, Trentino has become one of Italy’s two most important sources of high-quality sparkling wines made by secondary fermentation in the bottle in the manner of Champagne (the other being Lombardy’s Franciacorta, of course). Trentodoc is the name used to designate these well-known sparkling wines.

A beautiful and typical panorama of vines in Trentino

Grapes and Wines

In Trentino, almost all wines are named after the grapes from which they are produced. This is why the majority of Trentino DOC wines are labeled with the grape variety name and the word “Trentino.” An exception to this is what is undoubtedly the region’s best wine by far, though produced in ridiculously small volumes: the very sweet and viscous Trentino Vino Santo, made by air-drying the local native white Nosiola grape. However difficult it may be to find a bottle, my advice is to do whatever you can to acquire one, for the better examples are unquestionably among Italy’s finest, if least-known, sweet wines. Unfortunately, it is not just the sweet Nosiola Vino Santo wines that are rare; the dry wines made with Nosiola are similarly scarce. The Nosiola grape is characterized by thin skins that command a great deal of work in the vineyard, and is fast losing favor with growers everywhere in the region. For example, in 2017, production in Trentino of Nosiola grapes was just slightly more than 4,000 quintals (a quintal is equivalent to 100 kilograms), which translates to less than 0.5% of Trentino grape production.