Trentino-Alto Adige [trehn-TEE-noh AHL-toh AH-dee-jeh]

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Trentino-Alto Adige
[trehn-TEE-noh AHL-toh AH-dee-jeh]

Wine-producing region with about 32,000 vineyard acres located in northeastern Italy and bordered by LOMBARDY on the west, VENETO on the east, and Austria on the north. It consists of two provences—Alto Adige in the north and Trentino in the south—which, although linked together into one region, are quite different. Alto Adige, also known as South Tyrol or Südtirol, is officially bilingual. It has a German-speaking majority that still has strong ties to Austria, which ceded this area to Italy in 1918. Alto Adige wines reflect this bilingual approach on their labels—a wine made from the PINOT BLANC grape might be referred to as both Weissburgunder and Pinot Bianco (both synonyms for Pinot Blanc). In addition to the ALTO ADIGE DOC, which covers this whole provence, there are a number of smaller DOCs such as Colli di Bolzano, LAGO DI CALDARO, Meranese di Collina, SANTA MADDALENA, Terlano, and Valle Isarco. Trentino, the southern portion of this region, begins north of the city of Trento and continues south. This part of Trentino-Alto Adige is much more Italian. The TRENTINO DOC covers the whole southern portion and includes a number of VARIETAL WINES like CABERNET SAUVIGNON and MERLOT. In addition, there are several individual DOCs such as CASTELLER, Sorni, TEROLDEGO ROTALIANO, and VALDADIGE. Over 75 percent of the total wine production of Trentino-Alto Adige is DOC wine (the highest percentage of Italy’s twenty wine-producing regions), and a majority is red. The dominant red grapes are the local varieties LAGREIN, SCHIAVA (also called Vernatsch), and Lambrusco a Foglia Frastagliata (which is apparently unrelated to the other LAMBRUSCO varieties found throughout Italy). There are also wines made from CABERNET SAUVIGNON, MERLOT, Marzemino, and Pinot Nero (PINOT NOIR) grapes. There are many well-known white-grape varieties grown in the region including CHARDONNAY, MÜLLER-THURGAU, Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc), Pinot Grigio (PINOT GRIS), RIESLING, SAUVIGNON BLANC, SYLVANER, and GEWÜRZTRAMINER—the latter is thought to have originated in the Alto Adige village of Tramin (Temeno).