Region: Trentino-Alto Adige

Zone:

Trentino DOC

Trentino DOC covers a broad area stretching from the border of the province in the North, to the Southeastern border of the region, towards Veneto, and it covers the rather large area of 72 municipalities from the city of Trento, along the Adige river, east of the city, to the higher altitude Cembra and the Sarca valley west of Trento to the northern shore of Lake Garda.

There is evidence that grape growing and winemaking have been practiced in the area for about 3000 years, and some suggest that both were introduced by Illyrian tribes migrated from Greece via Liguria and then on to Trentino.

Trentino was already praised for its wines in the Roman period, by Strabo (64-24 BCE), Virgil (70-19 BCE) and Suetonius (69-122 CE). In the Middle Ages the "pious" monks got more and more interest in wine production and with their highly interest (scientific, of course) in alcoholic beverages, they introduced more advanced winemaking techniques.

In the 12th Century, the first set of rules regarding grape harvesting was introduced and a century later appeared the special statutes of Trento, through which wine import from the surrounding zone was limited by law. Perhaps this was the first of Europe’s anti-competitive import restrictions.

The 16th Century, the historian Michelangelo Mariani described the wines of Trintino as being “pure and unadulterated”, a description still valid today. They can still be characterized as being clean, juicy and fruity.

Overall, this zone is more internationally oriented than the neighboring zone, Alto Adige DOC , thus having the Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Müller-Thurgau grapes, along with the local varieties Sciava and Teroldego.

Similarly to the neighboring zone Alto Adige, the wines have names both in Italian and in German and can be divided into the following categories: 

1. "Trentino", followed by one of the four designations: Rosso, Rosato (Kretzer), Bianco and Vino Santo.
2. "Trentino", followed by the name of the grape variety. At least 85% of the wine must be made from a single grape from the 18 varieties available.
3. "Trentino", followed by the name of a subzone.

The most interesting wines from Trentino DOC bears the name "Trentino Superiore DOC" plus the name of the current grape on the label. These wines have particularly high standards of production and certain aging requirements.

Read more about the wines from Trentino DOC by clicking i the top menu in the right side.