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Trentino-Alto Adige - Trentino - Local Varieties

Q: Vino Santo, not Vin Santo, is a wine from which region of Italy. Describe the grape variety and the characteristics.

Made from the white variety Nosiola grown in the Valley of the Lakes (Garda) in Trentino, the warmest area with a sub-continental climate. It produces a small volume of distinctive white wines with a light hazelnut flavour. It is also made in a semi-dried fruit version, called Vino Santo (not Vin Santo). The hazelnut flavour is from the fruit, not from oak. It is vulnerable to spring frosts, powdery mildew and sour rot. The dry wine is mid-priced, the Vino Santo premium priced.

5 important questions on Trentino-Alto Adige - Trentino - Local Varieties

25% is black varieties in Trentino, which three are these local varieties?

Teroldego
Marzemino
Lagrein

Teroldego is a black grape variety, from which area? How was it trained and what are its characteristics?

Most common black in Trentino
Black cherry
Historically trained on pergolas for high yields.
Quality minded growers now using Guyot. It can suffer from drying out of stems but is less susceptible to mildews than the other two varieties.

The best clones are 145 and 152 for intense aromas.
The best quality wines come from the Teroldego Rotaliano DOC on sandy and gravelly soils in the far north of Trentino.
Outside Teroldego Rotaliano DOC, Teroldego cannot be bottled as Trentino DOC but as Vini delle Dolomiti IGT (which includes wines from both Trentino and Alto-Adige).

Marzemino is a grape variety from Italy, in which region and what are the characteristics?

From Trentino region in North-East part
Red cherry
This black variety is prone to botrytis bunch rot and powdery mildew.
Older vines were usually trained on pergolas; newer lower-yielding clones have been trained as spurred cordons.
The best, ripest, wines come from the Ziresi subzone of the Trentino DOC due to full sun exposure and rich calcareous/clay and basalt soils

Lagrein is found in which region(s) of Italy? What are the characteristics?

Trentino & Alto Adige
ripe berry fruit
This variety needs a warm site with plenty of sunshine to ripen fully.
It can be subject to poor fruit set and thus low yields.
Bitterness and some harshness on the finish is being addressed by shorter maceration times and oak ageing.
Because of its deep colour, the variety is also used for rosés.
The wines can be labelled in either Italian or German as ‘red’ and ‘rosé’: Lagrein rubino/dunkel and Lagrein rosato/kretzer.

Vino Santo, not Vin Santo, is a wine from which region of Italy. Describe the grape variety and the characteristics.

Made from the white variety Nosiola grown in the Valley of the Lakes (Garda) in Trentino, the warmest area with a sub-continental climate.
It produces a small volume of distinctive white wines with a light hazelnut flavour.

It is also made in a semi-dried fruit version, called Vino Santo (not Vin Santo). The hazelnut flavour is from the fruit, not from oak.
It is vulnerable to spring frosts, powdery mildew and sour rot.
The dry wine is mid-priced, the Vino Santo premium priced.