The Trentino-Alto Adige area is the heart of a microcosm of fine wines that taste unlike any others in Italy or Austria.
On one level, the most northerly wine region of Italy is easy to understand. Nobody is left unmoved by the spectacular combination of the snow-capped Alps, verdant glacial valleys, mountain meadows and many vineyards. Admire this scene on a sunny day with a glass of refreshing local dry white or red and you feel like you’re in wine paradise. And in some ways, you are. I just tasted the most recent releases from the region, and there was a very consistent high standard of winemaking with only a handful of disappointing wines.
Because of the coronavirus, I wasn’t able to travel there, but I have visited many times over more than 20 years. One of the things that my recent tastings hammered home is the complexity of the autonomous region, composed of two provinces joined by a hyphen and history. The special cultures and climates have resulted in an entire microcosm of wine. Few of the brightest stars in this firmament taste like any other Italian wines, or the wines of neighboring Austria for that matter.
Austria must be mentioned, because from 1815 to 1918 both Trentino and Alto Adige belonged to the Austrian region of Tyrol. To this day the great majority of the people in Alto Adige call their province Südtirol and speak a dialect of German that sounds Austrian. The one place you’re sure to hear Italian is the streets of Bolzano/Bozen, the capital city. In contrast, in Trentino (named after its capital, Trento) Italian has always been the dominant language and you rarely hear anything else spoken. That might make this part of Italy sound a bit schizophrenic, but it’s home to a wonderful cultural synergy that marries the best aspects of Italian and Germanic culture to create something unique.
The climate is also a synergy between Alpine freshness and Mediterranean warmth. The farther north you go the more there is of the former, and the farther south you go the greater the influence the latter exerts. Vineyard altitudes range from low-lying valley floors up to just over a thousand meters above sea level, which further extends the spectrum of microclimates.
No wonder the grape varieties grown range from the ultra-cool climate white muller thurgau to the red cabernet sauvignon, which will only ripen fully in the warmest, most sheltered sites. In between those extremes are chardonnay and pinot nero, and pinot grigio, pinot bianco and riesling also flourish.
To this picture must be added indigenous grape varieties such as gewurztraminer, named after the Alto Adige/Südtirol wine town of Tramin, and the deeply colored red lagrein of the same region. The pale-colored vernatsch feels like another indigenous grape, but it is actually identical to the Croatian schiava and German trollinger. In Trentino the tannic and expressively herbal red teroldego and the nutty white nosiolo play comparably important roles.
You might be wondering if this isn’t all too complicated, but the chances you will find some exciting wines from one of your favorite grape varieties here is high. Because the varietal names are usually written prominently on the label, it’s easy to find your way.
WATCH: THE MIRACLE OF ALTO ADIGE This is the award-winning documentary about the Alto Adige region that James Suckling made with Hollywood director James Orr, who did the filming and editing.
One of the conclusions of our tastings is that in both regions the very best winemakers have pulled ahead of the pack of good to very good producers. Let’s take a closer look at them, because these two regions deserve to be taken seriously.
For us, Foradori, which is based in Mezzolombardo, has long been the leading producer in Trentino. The established top red wine that Elisabetta Foradori makes together with her son Emilio is a varietal teroldego. It tastes as dramatic as the Campo Rotaliano, a gently undulating plain surrounded by rugged mountains. The Foradori Teroldego Vigneti delle Dolomiti Granato 2018 has enormously deep and subtle wild berry and herbal character that made it the highest-scoring Trentino red wine in this year’s report together with the Foradori Teroldego Vigneti delle Dolomiti Morei 2019 – an almost supernaturally energetic red. Foradori also made the highest-rated Trentino white wine, the Foradori Manzoni Bianco Vigneti delle Domolmiti Fontanasanta 2020, which has incredibly intense wet-stone minerality and rated 98 points.
Cantina Tobolino, in the eponymous town, took the second spot in Trentino with a string of impressive red, white and sparkling wines. The Cantina Toblino Pinot Bianco Trentino Pràal 2019 deserves a special mention for the grace and elegance that earned it a 95 rating. San Leonardo has long been the leading producer of cabernet-based red blends and confirmed this position with their very elegant San Leonardo Vignetti delle Dolomiti 2016, which we rated 94.
In Alto Adige/Südtirol, the very top spot was taken by a dry white from Maninor in Caldaro/Kaltern. The breathtaking aromatic refinement and silky palate of the Manincor Sauvignon Alto Adige Lieben Aich 2019 makes it one of the greatest sauvignon blancs we’ve tasted in recent years, and we gave it a score of 98. There’s quite a contrast between the seamless elegance of the top whites from Manincor’s Michael Graf Goess-Enzenberg, a pioneer of organic and biodynamic winemaking in the region, to the more powerful and spicy wines of the Cantina Terlan in the town of Terlan, most notably the very complex (from gentian root to exotic fruits!) Cantina Terlan Alto Adige Terlander 1 2018. It is a blend of pinot bianco, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc – a composition traditional to this corner of region. We gave it a 97.
Manincor was also responsible for the highest-scoring red wine from Alto Adige, the most exciting from the row of stunning pinot noirs we tasted. The Manincor Pinot Nero Alto Adige Mason di Mason 2018 has incredibly fine tannins and great mineral freshness, which earned it 97 points.
The region is still not well known internationally for dry riesling, although the area planted with this grape has exploded since the last turn of the century. One of the extreme terroirs where it flourishes is Naturns in the Vinschgau Valley, close to the geographical center of the Alps, below the 3,337-meter-high Monterosso. The Castel Juval Riesling Südtirol Vinschgau Windbischel 2018 and its amazing combination of super-concentrated stone fruits and almost perfect poise won it 97 points. It seems appropriate that the Castel Juval estate is owned by the family of Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, for it is truly a mountain wine!
One producer in the breathtakingly beautiful region I spoke with – he was the only one and he asked for anonymity – revealed how a competitive zeal had gripped many winemakers in the region, leading to some jealousy.
“The region’s wines have been good for a long time, then some winemakers with very individual personalities developed and recently they made some very strong and original wines,” he said, confirming and explaining the positive way we see the region’s development. “Alto Adige has been spoiled by the Italian wine critics, and it was often those strong personalities with small estates who got the highest praise. That lead to some bad feelings.”
Our experience in wine-producing regions right around Planet Wine is that an open discussion about wine quality is the sure road to success, and jealousy is always counterproductive. Piedmont, Italy, which is just a few hours’ drive to the southwest, is an excellent example of how open discussion about wine quality without bad feelings can lift a whole region up. We hope that these two provinces can learn from the example of Piedmont and quickly take the next step forward.
– Stuart Pigott, senior editor
