Trentino (incl. Trento DOC)

'Trento' on the label means bubbles; 'Trentino' means still wine.

Two names that are easy to mix up. Trento DOC (also sold as Trentodoc) is the province's bottle-fermented sparkling wine. Trentino DOC covers the still reds and whites and is usually followed by a grape name such as Marzemino, Nosiola or Müller-Thurgau.

Two names that are easy to mix up. Trento DOC (also sold as Trentodoc) is the province's bottle-fermented sparkling wine. Trentino DOC covers the still reds and whites and is usually followed by a grape name such as Marzemino, Nosiola or Müller-Thurgau.

Trento DOC: Alpine bottle-fermented bubbles, crisp, citrusy and toasty.

Italy's mountain sparkling wine, made mostly from Chardonnay and Pinot Nero grown high above Trento. Fine bubbles, green apple, citrus and bready notes, at fair prices. The local celebration drink.

Italy's mountain sparkling wine, made mostly from Chardonnay and Pinot Nero grown high above Trento. Fine bubbles, green apple, citrus and bready notes, at fair prices. The local celebration drink.

Canederli (bread dumplings with speck) with Teroldego Rotaliano.

The classic Trentino plate: dumplings of stale bread, egg, speck and cheese, often in broth or with melted butter. A fresh, fruity Teroldego has the acidity to cut through them.

The classic Trentino plate: dumplings of stale bread, egg, speck and cheese, often in broth or with melted butter. A fresh, fruity Teroldego has the acidity to cut through them.

Celebration: Ferrari Perlé or a Riserva - local bubbles, not Champagne.

Perlé is the easy occasion bottle; Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore is the splurge. Altemasi Graal Riserva is the co-op alternative.

Perlé is the easy occasion bottle; Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore is the splurge. Altemasi Graal Riserva is the co-op alternative.

Nosiola: Trentino's rare hazelnut-scented white, dry or dried for Vino Santo.

Light and aromatic when dry, with citrus, peach and hazelnut. Most prized when dried for Vino Santo. Grown in the Valle dei Laghi and nearby.

Light and aromatic when dry, with citrus, peach and hazelnut. Most prized when dried for Vino Santo. Grown in the Valle dei Laghi and nearby.

Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT is where several top Trentino estates sit.

This regional IGT gives producers freedom with grapes and blends, so Bordeaux-style reds and skin-contact whites often carry it. San Leonardo and Foradori's whites are IGT by choice, not because they are lesser wines.

This regional IGT gives producers freedom with grapes and blends, so Bordeaux-style reds and skin-contact whites often carry it. San Leonardo and Foradori's whites are IGT by choice, not because they are lesser wines.

Rotari: the Mezzacorona co-op's bubbles; Flavio Riserva is the top.

A co-operative label that delivers reliable, Chardonnay-led Trento at friendly prices. The Brut and Rosé are easy buys; Flavio, a Chardonnay Riserva, is the step up.

A co-operative label that delivers reliable, Chardonnay-led Trento at friendly prices. The Brut and Rosé are easy buys; Flavio, a Chardonnay Riserva, is the step up.

Marzemino: violet-scented, soft red from Isera and the Vallagarina.

Mozart's red: a lively ruby wine with violet and dark-cherry fruit and gentle tannin. The Isera hills are its home. Easy with salumi and dumplings.

Mozart's red: a lively ruby wine with violet and dark-cherry fruit and gentle tannin. The Isera hills are its home. Easy with salumi and dumplings.

Superiore and Riserva Teroldego are the deeper, age-worthy versions.

Plain Teroldego Rotaliano is juicy and ready early. Superiore and Riserva come from older vines, spend longer in the cellar and are fuller, spicier and more tannic. Riserva is the sensible bottle for roast meat or game.

Plain Teroldego Rotaliano is juicy and ready early. Superiore and Riserva come from older vines, spend longer in the cellar and are fuller, spicier and more tannic. Riserva is the sensible bottle for roast meat or game.

Collector: San Leonardo, the northern Bordeaux-style benchmark.

Cabernet-led and age-worthy; Villa Gresti is the more approachable Merlot-led second red.

Cabernet-led and age-worthy; Villa Gresti is the more approachable Merlot-led second red.

Gift: a Vino Santo Trentino, the rarest local wine.

Pisoni's is the one to find. It is usually a half bottle, made in tiny amounts and aged for years before release.

Pisoni's is the one to find. It is usually a half bottle, made in tiny amounts and aged for years before release.

Amphora and skin contact: Foradori's rethink of Nosiola.

Foradori ferments and rests white wines on their skins in clay amphorae. Expect savoury, textured whites with some grip that suit food.

Foradori ferments and rests white wines on their skins in clay amphorae. Expect savoury, textured whites with some grip that suit food.

Biodynamic and organic farming mark Trentino's quality leaders.

Foradori and Pisoni farm biodynamically, and San Leonardo has been organic since 2015. It is a trait of the best small estates here, not a gimmick.

Foradori and Pisoni farm biodynamically, and San Leonardo has been organic since 2015. It is a trait of the best small estates here, not a gimmick.

Off the beaten path: Foradori's amphora Nosiola.

A skin-contact white from clay amphorae, a talking-point bottle that shows how far Trentino has moved beyond easy whites.

A skin-contact white from clay amphorae, a talking-point bottle that shows how far Trentino has moved beyond easy whites.

Ferrari: Trentodoc's benchmark house; Giulio Ferrari is the icon.

Founded in 1902 and run by the Lunelli family since 1952, Ferrari makes about half of all Trento DOC. Perlé is the step-up bottle; Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore is the celebration wine.

Giulio Ferrari planted Chardonnay in the hills above Trento in 1902 and won a gold medal in Milan in 1906. In 1952 the winery passed to the Lunelli family, who still run it, and it now makes roughly half of all Trentodoc. The range climbs in clear steps. The Brut is a straight Chardonnay for the aperitivo. Perlé is a vintage blanc de blancs from estate vineyards high above the city. At the top are the Riserva wines: Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore, a Chardonnay from the Maso Pianizza vineyard that spends many years on its lees, and Riserva Lunelli, which Gambero Rosso placed among Trentodoc's best. For a local celebration, this is the answer: the Brut for a toast, Perlé for dinner, the Riserva for an occasion.

The Garda wind dries Vino Santo grapes in attics.

In the Valle dei Laghi, the afternoon Ora del Garda breeze blows through the attics where Nosiola grapes dry on racks until Holy Week.

Vino Santo depends on one local gift: the Ora del Garda, a steady afternoon wind that blows up from Lake Garda into the Valle dei Laghi. Growers pick only loose, fully ripe Nosiola bunches from a few old plots and lay them on racks called arele in ventilated attics. Through the winter, up to Holy Week, the berries shrivel and noble rot develops inside them, so the grapes lose most of their weight. Only a tiny amount of juice remains. The wind keeps the drying clean and slow, which is why the style does not travel and why very few producers still make it. The wine then ferments slowly in small barrels and ages for years. It is a rare, expensive bottle, and the Slow Food Presidium exists to protect it.

Foradori: Elisabetta's biodynamic estate; Granato is Teroldego's modern icon.

Elisabetta Foradori took over in 1984 and rebuilt Teroldego's reputation. Granato, from old pergola vines and first released in 1986, is the flagship; Sgarzon and Morei are single-vineyard versions.

Elisabetta Foradori took charge of the family estate in Mezzolombardo in 1984 and spent the next decades proving that Teroldego could be a serious wine. Granato, first released in 1986 from old pergola vines, became the flagship. From 2000 she moved to biodynamic farming, covering the whole estate by 2002, and from 2008 began using clay amphorae. Sgarzon, from a cooler sandy vineyard, and Morei, from a hot stony one, show how site changes the grape. Since 2015 her son Emilio has led the winemaking, with gentler extraction. The reds are typically labelled Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT rather than Teroldego Rotaliano DOC. If you try one Teroldego to understand the grape's ceiling, make it Granato.

San Leonardo: Guerrieri Gonzaga estate; Italy's northern Bordeaux-style benchmark.

A family estate in southern Trentino making a Cabernet-led blend, San Leonardo, plus the Merlot-led Villa Gresti. Elegant and slow to open.

San Leonardo is owned by the Marchesi Guerrieri Gonzaga, whose predecessors once sent the estate's wines to the Austrian court as Château St Leonard. Its flagship, San Leonardo, is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Carmenère, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Fermentation uses native yeasts in cement, followed by ageing in cement and partly new barriques, then bottle. The wine is often shy and austere when young because the cool nights preserve acidity, so it needs years; it is considered one of Italy's most elegant wines with age. Villa Gresti, mostly Merlot with some Carmenère, is the more approachable second red. The estate has farmed organically since 2015, and Carlo Ferrini has consulted since replacing Giacomo Tachis in 2000. Both are labelled Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT.

On Trento labels, vintage, Riserva and Dosaggio Zero show age and dryness.

A non-vintage Trento is the fresh house style. Millesimato is a single harvest, and Riserva is the vintage-dated top tier, kept longest on the yeast. Dosaggio Zero (or Pas Dosé) means no sugar added at the end.

Trento labels work as a ladder. A non-vintage bottle is the house style, made to be fresh. Millesimato marks a single harvest, aged longer, and Riserva is the vintage-dated top tier, held longest on the lees for toasty, bready depth. The prestige cuvées sit here: Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore, Ferrari Riserva Lunelli, Altemasi Graal Riserva and Rotari Flavio Riserva. Separately, sweetness: a growing number of houses bottle Dosaggio Zero, with no sugar added after lees ageing, because mountain fruit has the acidity to carry it without help; Revì and La Vis Cembra both make one. If you like bone-dry bubbles, read the sweetness word (Brut, Extra Brut, Dosaggio Zero) before the tier word.

Foradori Fontanasanta: Nosiola and Manzoni Bianco fermented on skins in amphora.

Foradori's white-wine site gives a skin-contact Nosiola, launched in 2009, and a Manzoni Bianco, both made in clay amphorae.

Fontanasanta is the Foradori site for white wines. The Nosiola, launched in 2009 as the estate's first skin-contact white, spends a long spell on its skins in clay amphorae. The estate owns well over a hundred of them, all made by a single craftsman in Spain, after Giusto Occhipinti of COS in Sicily encouraged Elisabetta Foradori to try clay. The Manzoni Bianco, a Riesling and Pinot Blanc crossing, comes from the same vineyards. The result is a textured, savoury white with firm grip, quite unlike the light, nutty dry Nosiola made in the valleys. Treat it as a food wine: serve it a little cool, not cold, with cured meats, cheese or a mushroom dish. Like the estate's reds, the wines are typically labelled Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT.

Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT: freedom wines - Bordeaux blends, amphora whites.

The regional IGT is where Trentino's most individual wines live, from San Leonardo's Cabernet blend to Foradori's skin-contact Nosiola. Producers choose it to escape DOC rules.

Several of Trentino's most admired bottles do not carry a DOC at all. Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT gives producers freedom over grapes and style, so it holds two very different groups. The first is the Bordeaux-style blends, led by San Leonardo, made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Cabernet Franc and Merlot in the cool lower Adige valley. The second is the experimental wave: Foradori's skin-contact Nosiola and Manzoni Bianco from clay amphorae, and many of the estate's Teroldego reds. Both groups are expensive by Trentino standards and made in small quantities. The IGT here is a sign of ambition, not of a lesser wine; the price and the producer's name tell you which kind of bottle you hold.

High vineyards and cold nights keep Trentino's fruit fresh.

Vines climb from the valley floor to steep Alpine slopes. Warm days and cold nights from the Dolomites keep acidity high, which is why the province excels at sparkling wine and crisp whites.

Vines climb from the valley floor to steep Alpine slopes. Warm days and cold nights from the Dolomites keep acidity high, which is why the province excels at sparkling wine and crisp whites.

In the glass: Fresh acidity and clear fruit; ideal base for sparkling wine

Pergola training lifts the vines overhead for airflow.

The traditional pergola trentina holds the vines on a raised sloping frame. It suits Teroldego on the plain and gives grapes with high acidity, handy for sparkling base wine; newer vineyards often use Guyot for more concentrated fruit.

The traditional pergola trentina holds the vines on a raised sloping frame. It suits Teroldego on the plain and gives grapes with high acidity, handy for sparkling base wine; newer vineyards often use Guyot for more concentrated fruit.

In the glass: Fresher, lighter fruit than low-trained vines; concentration rises with Guyot

The Rotaliano plain: gravel soils sheltered by Dolomite walls.

Teroldego grows on a flat plain where the Noce meets the Adige. Gravel and sand drain fast, and the rock walls on both sides shelter the vines and hold daytime heat, while cold nights keep the acidity.

Teroldego grows on a flat plain where the Noce meets the Adige. Gravel and sand drain fast, and the rock walls on both sides shelter the vines and hold daytime heat, while cold nights keep the acidity.

In the glass: Deep colour and ripe fruit with fresh acidity

Cembra's porphyry terraces give very high, cool vineyards.

A side valley of tiny terraces held up by dry stone walls, on volcanic porphyry rock and rising to nearly 900 metres. Müller-Thurgau and sparkling base wines thrive in the cool air.

A side valley of tiny terraces held up by dry stone walls, on volcanic porphyry rock and rising to nearly 900 metres. Müller-Thurgau and sparkling base wines thrive in the cool air.

In the glass: Crisp, floral, mineral whites with firm acidity

The Garda wind dries Vino Santo grapes in attics.

In the Valle dei Laghi, the afternoon Ora del Garda breeze blows through the attics where Nosiola grapes dry on racks until Holy Week.

Vino Santo depends on one local gift: the Ora del Garda, a steady afternoon wind that blows up from Lake Garda into the Valle dei Laghi. Growers pick only loose, fully ripe Nosiola bunches from a few old plots and lay them on racks called arele in ventilated attics. Through the winter, up to Holy Week, the berries shrivel and noble rot develops inside them, so the grapes lose most of their weight. Only a tiny amount of juice remains. The wind keeps the drying clean and slow, which is why the style does not travel and why very few producers still make it. The wine then ferments slowly in small barrels and ages for years. It is a rare, expensive bottle, and the Slow Food Presidium exists to protect it.

In the glass: Concentrated honey, dried fruit and nutty notes; fresh enough to avoid cloying

Most growers deliver to co-operatives, and the best are excellent value.

Big co-ops such as Cavit, Mezzacorona and La Vis make much of Trentino's wine and top sparkling brands (Altemasi, Rotari). Quality is high and prices fair, with family estates such as Ferrari and Foradori at the top end.

Big co-ops such as Cavit, Mezzacorona and La Vis make much of Trentino's wine and top sparkling brands (Altemasi, Rotari). Quality is high and prices fair, with family estates such as Ferrari and Foradori at the top end.

In the glass: Reliable, well-priced wines; selection and Riserva lines are the best value

Trento's bubbles form in the bottle, then rest on the yeast.

A second fermentation inside each bottle, then a long rest on the dead yeast, gives Trento its bready, toasty notes and fine bubbles. The same method as Champagne, but with mountain fruit.

A second fermentation inside each bottle, then a long rest on the dead yeast, gives Trento its bready, toasty notes and fine bubbles. The same method as Champagne, but with mountain fruit.

In the glass: Brioche, hazelnut and a creamy fine mousse over crisp acidity

Vino Santo spends years in small barrels after drying.

The syrupy must ferments slowly and naturally in small oak barrels and then ages for years, so the wine turns amber and nutty. Some houses hold it for ten years before release.

The syrupy must ferments slowly and naturally in small oak barrels and then ages for years, so the wine turns amber and nutty. Some houses hold it for ten years before release.

In the glass: Amber colour, honey, dried fruit and hazelnut with a long finish

Amphora and skin contact: Foradori's rethink of Nosiola.

Foradori ferments and rests white wines on their skins in clay amphorae. Expect savoury, textured whites with some grip that suit food.

Foradori ferments and rests white wines on their skins in clay amphorae. Expect savoury, textured whites with some grip that suit food.

In the glass: Textured, nutty, savoury whites with light tannin

Biodynamic and organic farming mark Trentino's quality leaders.

Foradori and Pisoni farm biodynamically, and San Leonardo has been organic since 2015. It is a trait of the best small estates here, not a gimmick.

Foradori and Pisoni farm biodynamically, and San Leonardo has been organic since 2015. It is a trait of the best small estates here, not a gimmick.

In the glass: Purer, more site-specific fruit

More Trento houses now bottle Dosaggio Zero, with no added sugar.

High-altitude fruit has the acidity to carry bubbles without sweetening, so very dry styles are a Trento trend. Revì and La Vis Cembra both make one.

High-altitude fruit has the acidity to carry bubbles without sweetening, so very dry styles are a Trento trend. Revì and La Vis Cembra both make one.

In the glass: Bone-dry, mineral bubbles with citrus and herb notes