Tag: Trentino

In Trentino there is a winery where the members are a (large) family – Italian Cuisine

La Vis winery is a reality where taking care of people is as important as making a good wine. And where time has a social value rather than an economic one

There are places where work is best organized, members feel part of a family, skills are paid correctly and everything is done in constant respect for the environment. La Vis winery is one of them. Located on the outskirts of Trento, in Trentino, in the municipality of which it bears its name, it has 700 members and 400 hectares of vineyards. The name La Vis originates from the Avisio stream that descends from the peaks of the surrounding mountains with the impetuosity characteristic of the nature of this splendid natural setting, and which well embodies the concept of strength, vis in Latin, contained in it.

The wine cooperative has its history in 1850 when the Cembran family built the first nucleus of its current production structure. Officially, the winery was born after the war, in 1948, thanks to the idea of 14 enterprising winemakers which gradually acquired other properties, up to the current 400 hectares. Today all the members of the winery are followed step by step in the care of the vineyard, from pruning, to seed beds, up to the sowing of legumes for green manure. The whole in the name of sustainability. But the involvement also concerns every entrepreneurial choice of the winery. Just like in a big family.

A new way of conceiving viticulture

The philosophy of these entrepreneurs was to revolutionize the usual modus operandi of winemakers. Thickening of the plants and lowering of yields were the first steps for the qualitative improvement of viticulture. At the center of the thought of these men there has always been a great attention to having healthy, walkable soils, in which spontaneous grasses grow free to make the soils more ventilated, less compact, so that the roots of the vines could sink deeply. . In healthy environments it is in fact easier to maintain healthy vines and grapes. It was one of the first Italian companies to undertake innovative projects such as zoning, that is the choice of the best soil for each grape variety.

A natural landscape

The vines of the La Vis winery climb up to 1000 meters above sea level, a fairly common situation in South Tyrol, on an area that embraces two different climatic zones, a continental one near the Adige River, and a sub-Mediterranean one in Val di Cembra, with milder temperatures thanks to the Ora del Garda, a blowing from the early afternoon, and which sweeps away moisture from the soil and grapes, preventing mold or other pathogens from forming. All the vines are surrounded by hectares of wood, which make the landscape completely natural.

All the wines of La Vis

The common thread that unites all the wines in the cellar is the real correspondence between the Trentino area and the hand of the man who completes the work begun in the vineyard in the cellar. Specifically, that of Ezio Dallagiacoma, for more than ten years in charge of all La Vis production. The cultivated varieties are the traditional ones of Trentino, starting from Nosiola, Chardonnay, Traminer, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Incontro Manzoni and, among the reds, Pinot Noir, Schiava, Lagrein, Teroldego and Merlot. All stages of vinification in the cellar aim to preserve the peculiarity of each grape and the territories of origin, enhancing the characteristics of each single vintage. It follows the philosophy of "Less is more", so as not to distort the true soul of each wine. Among those tasted, a Vich Sauvignon 2015 a pure Sauvignon blanc, from the Selezioni line. The grapes are harvested when fully ripe, to enhance the noblest aromas of this vine. About 30% of this careful selection of Sauvignon blanc rests, matures and evolves in new French oak tonneaux. After about a year of waiting, the assembly between steel and oak is carried out, obtaining the Vich cuvée which only after 3 months of further aging in the cellar begins its journey in the bottle. At least 6 months will pass before going out on the market. The result is a fresh, very savory wine that releases aromas of gooseberry, mango and exotic fruit on the nose. It is perfect for elaborate fish dishes or soups.

The second wine Diaol Chardonnay Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT 2011 from the Selezioni line comes from a land where the first Chardonnay in Italy was planted. Located in the middle of the hills, the vineyard has a soil with clay, alternating with dolomitic sediments, among the characteristics that allow to obtain quality grapes. The vinification takes place for 70% in steel and 30% in French oak tonneaux. The assembled cuvée matures another 3 months in stainless steel tanks, then bottled it rests in the bottle for at least another 6. In the glass it has aromas of yellow plum and nectarine peach with mineral and brackish hints that create an intense and intriguing olfactory profile. Freshness and flavor give the palate a nice tension, a long and persistent finish characterized by pleasant saline notes. An important wine, perfect for fish main courses such as stewed monkfish or sea bream fillets in crazy water.

The last wine tasted by the La Vis winery is Maso Franch 20016, a blend of Chardonnay and Incrocio Manzoni, which comes from Maso Franch, a small plot at the gateway to the Cembra Valley, in the area most exposed to the sun, rising from Lavis. Maso Franch is a unique reality in Val di Cembra, due to the size of the vineyard, but above all for the natural environment in which it is inserted, within a vast forest. On the nose you immediately feel the minerality mixed with fruity and citrus aromas. On the palate it has an important structure, it is broad and dense with an evident saline component that caresses the palate in the long finish. A wine that for Dallagiacoma is "intense like a gaze that one still wants to cross despite embarrassment. A wine that bewitches, seduces and charms like a new love .

Trentino, land of grappa – Sale & Pepe – Italian Cuisine

Lhe valleys of Trentino preserve a capillary tradition of artisanal distilleries that produce grappa. There are about 30 of them, which make up 15% of all national production. The size is almost always artisanal and relies on the large quantity and quality of marc available, the result of a valuable wine sector.

An ancient story
According to Gaetano Perusini, a scholar of demology, the term grappa derives from the Gothic Krappa, which reached the Italian vocabulary through the Lombard people. "What is certain is that the term entered common use between the end of the nineteenth century and the following century", points out Alessandro Marzadro, vice president of the Institute for the Protection of Grappa of Trentino. For centuries grappa was the exclusive patrimony of the common people, of which it was a consoling element.

Scent of pomace
Today, as then, the pomace, that is the grape skin with the seeds and any residual must, are brought to a boil until alcohol is obtained in the form of vapor, which is then condensed, obtaining grappa. The productions, often artisanal, however, have been refined by selecting the raw material and taking particular care in the production process. So also grappa, a distillate that is only Italian, has entered the most prestigious establishments. And Trentino has become a home of excellence. So thanks to Trentino Wine and Flavors Road (a project of the Region that brings together different itineraries with a tourist and food and wine theme) we have designed a tasting itinerary that just touches the vineyards to venture among distilleries, stills and glasses (repeatable and customizable trips with the Viaggi del Gusto proposals).

A tour of the distilleries
Those who have made grappa a real luxury item, keeping its peasant roots, are Mario Pojer and Fiorentino Sandri. On the farm Pojer and Sandri Exclusive attention is paid to the material: before distillation, the pomace is deprived of its pips, marginalizing the roughness of aroma that it could cause. Essenzia grappa is recognized for its fruity scent that hides the right alcohol content and the full harmony of a round softness.

A short distance away Rossano Sandri, a teacher at the Agricultural Institute of San Michele all'Adige, produces grappa in a tiny factory. “Each family has always produced wine and grappa for itself. As a child I was fascinated by this mystery that transformed a solid matter into a transparent liquid. So I felt fulfilled when I was able to buy an old hand-beaten copper still ”, he says with emotion. Its Moscato grappa is ethereal and clean on the nose, sensual and harmonious in the mouth.

The Piana Rotaliana is the homeland of Teroldego, a fragrant and vigorous wine. So the Bertagnolli Distillery has developed a grappa (dedicated to Giulia de Kreutzenberg, wife of the progenitor of the dynasty) with copper stills and the bain-marie method, which releases the characteristic aroma of the grape, resulting at the same time balanced and handsome.

The art of Trentino distillation has a capital. It is the village of Santa Massenza of Vallelaghi, home of the Nosiola grape. At the end of the sixties out of 150 inhabitants there were 13 distilleries and of those only 5 remain. Enzo Poli della Maxentia Distillery he inherited the art of distillation from his father Valerio. He explains that “Nosiola grappa is recognized for its delicate aroma, with a vague almond aftertaste. But the spearhead is the grappa of Vino Santo di Nosiola, produced with the pomace of grapes that are pressed around Easter ". The nose recalls the walnut husk, in the mouth it is soft and balsamic.

Just north of Rovereto there is another cornerstone of Trentino grappa: the Marzadro Distillery was born in 1949 and still today, following the canons of tradition, the grandchildren make grappas with local pomace. Half a dozen young or vintage single grape varieties, white and transparent; as many multivitigno ones. But one of the strengths of the Marzadro Distillery is the grappa aged in barrels of different woods such as cherry, oak, ash and acacia. Fabiola Marzadro, one of the granddaughters, explains that “a grappa that has spent at least a year in a container such as wood, terracotta or other can be defined as aged; it gets old if the months spent in wood are at least 18 ”. So much so that the Diciotto Lune, very far from that brutally strong liquid that was considered grappa until a few decades ago, is the iconic product of distilleries.

Cuisine with grappa
The restaurants of the Strada del Vino e dei Sapori del Trentino offer menus with tastings of local grappa. We have selected a few.
Agritur Madonna delle Vittorie (Arch). Typical and homemade cuisine, homemade pasta and desserts, grilled meat from our own farm. Owned by the Marzadro Distillery, it has an intimate and familiar atmosphere, it also has 2 apartments to rent.
Osteria "a le due Spade" (Trento). Born in 1545, during the famous Council of Trent, to welcome councilors, pilgrims, notables and simple travelers, it is led by the Peterlana family: the typical and at the same time creative cuisine is entrusted to the chef Federico Parolari.
From Pino (Grumo di San Michele all’Adige). V.enhances the flavors of Trentino and lake fish.
The Old Sawmill(Baselga di Pinè). Housed in an old Venetian sawmill from the early 1920s, the ristonate has been in the hands of the Bortolotti family for some years, offering dishes with wild herbs, flowers, animals raised or hunted in the surrounding area, cold cuts and cheeses.
Comano Cattoni Holiday (Ponte Arche). Sanctuary of the typical Trentino cuisine, it focuses on seasonal and zero-km products such as the ciuìga del Banale, the potatoes from Lomaso, the Spressa delle Giudicarie DOP, the Bleggio walnuts.

Gourmand tourism in Trentino
There Strada del Vino e dei Sapori del Trentino also has a wide range of activities. Here are some ideas.
Events: all the initiatives organized or promoted by Trentino Wine and Flavors Road.
Manufacturers: all members, divided by territory or by production category.
Experiences: tours, tastings, treck and bike to discover the colors and flavors of the territory.

from Sale & Pepe Magazine October 2020
by Riccardo Lagorio
photo by Gianmarco Folcolini

Trentino at the table: when beauty meets flavor – Italian Cuisine

Land of beauty and food and wine excellences. A journey that never disappoints

The Trentino it is known for its landscape beauties, unique in the world. With the leading Dolomites, a UNESCO heritage site, carved out of millennia of geological history, the natural parks and biodiversity of its vast territory. But all this what would it be without the wisdom in cultivating its rich land handed down for generations, by its products and the world famous food and wine excellences? She would be a beautiful girl, but without a soul and a heart. That's why Trentino is an infinite source of charm, one with the welcome and the territory, a magical land of tastes and flavors to be discovered.
Oenology, cheese making, fruit growing. And yet the wines, mountain cheeses, apples and small fruits, trouts and chars bred in pure stream waters, and many others of agri-food excellence that combine to form the Trentino Quality Label. Flavors and scents that draw on ancient traditions and knowledge, in enology, in cheese making, in fruit growing.

The whole territory of Trentino is characterized by the presence of cultivated areas and cellars, farms and producers who work to offer the best of the agri-food sector. To guide you to discover the many typical features of the Trentino food, authenticity that make Trentino a corner of food and wine paradise, there are three Roads of wine and flavors, www.tastetrentino.it, which follow the traditional productive vocations of the territory: Trentino Wine and Flavors Route, Apple road and the flavors of the Non and Sole Valleys e Cheese route of the Dolomites.

The Trentino quality label and other typical products

More sustainable and biodiversity-friendly productions with high quality standards. It is one of the objectives of the rural development policies that the Trentino agriculture system has set for 2020, followed by the establishment, in 2010, of the Trentino Quality Label, created to guarantee the origin, origin and total traceability certified agri-food products such as milk, cheese, butter, apples, meats and salami, trout and char, vegetables and greens, beer and fruit products. (Www.trentinoqualita.it).

All crazy about the picnic

Flavors to be enjoyed, perhaps, with a picnic, lying on a beautiful mountain meadow, the best way to relax the senses: just a basket, perhaps prepared with local products, and the magic is accomplished. And this year the unusual and gourmet picnic proposals are not lacking. #CheeseNic is the snack based on the cheeses produced in the Primiero and Vanoi huts: you can book and agritur and huts in the area, in addition to the many mountain huts of San Martino di Castrozza and Passo Rolle, fill the basket with cheeses, the Fumada meat from Siròr, craft beers and herbal tea from the mountains. Always on the "Cheese Road of the Dolomites" offers in Primiero on the summer weekends the unforgettable experience of Albe in Malga, to live a day as a herdsman and discover all the secrets of life in the malga, starting from the first hours of the day .
Also in Madonna di Campiglio, from July to September, with the "Breakfast on the grass", in front of the panoramic peaks of the Brenta, a "zero km" picnic is consumed, with cheeses from the herdsmen, honey, fresh bread and mountain jams. And all the huts in the valley have Pick & Eat backpacks ready, ready to be consumed in nature. In Val di Non there is "A blanket on the lawn", the initiative that involves various restaurateurs from the valley, so that everyone offers their own picnic menu, by reservation. As also in Val di Fiemme, in the RespirArt park, with the "Pic-Nic ad Arte", surrounded by works of art and the 27 permanent installations with gourmet baskets prepared by the area's shelters. On the shores of Lake Ledro the "Pic Nic Chic" invites to enjoy relaxing on the shores of the lake with the possibility for couples to have a snack in the middle of the lake, during a suggestive rowing boat trip.
And the Picnic in Trentino is also done on city meadows, for lovers of cultural walks: PicMart is the basket of the "Senso – Alfio Ghezzi" the MART restaurant in Rovereto. Settled on the large lawn that flanks the exhibition pavilions of the Rovereto museum complex, you can taste the dishes of the best Italian tradition. Info: https://www.visittrentino.info

Traditional productions

There are many consortia and certificates of authenticity, among which, perhaps, the best known is the APPLE VAL DI NON D.O.P., followed by many others. That of the association "Academy of the olive and oil, protects, for example, the conservation of theolive growing in Arco and in Upper Garda Trentino and the typical oil that is produced thanks to unique climatic conditions. From the larger ones, grouped in consortia and associations, to the smaller ones, reflecting the passionate work of small producers who carry out, with dedication, traditional processing methods and small agricultural productions. One of these are the small Fruits: Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and strawberries. The Puzzone Di Moena / Spretz Tzaorì from the particular acute smell and its unmistakable aroma and the Casolét Of The Val Di Sole, a typical soft and raw mountain cheese protected by the Slow Food Presidium of the same name. Among the "ancient" cheeses, witnesses of resilient methodologies there is also the Spressa Delle Giudicarie, One of the oldest cheeses of the Alpine mountain, dating back to 1249, as well as the Vezzena cheese, seasoned for 24 months, tasty and slightly spicy, produced from ancient times on the highlands of Folgaria, Lavarone and Luserna. And among the typical features of Trentino we cannot forget the carne salada, a historical dish and the first Trentino dish to receive the De.co, the municipal denomination of origin of the villages of Upper Garda (Riva del Garda, Arco, Nago-Torbole, Dro, Tenno, Ledro and Dren), but which it is now present throughout the region. The choice of the piece of meat is crucial: that it is rump of adult bovine, preferably of the Rendena breed, from the local valley of the same name. During the entire maturation period, the salada meat must be stored in dark rooms at a maximum temperature of 12 ° C and must be massaged at least every 2/3 days. The Arctic char, with its delicate and unique meat and the famous Storo flour, from which the typical polenta is prepared. Made by grinding of local Storo corn, which is still cultivated today strictly respecting the cycles of nature.

Trentino Wines: Trento DOC and native vines

In a glass of wine you can find color and shades, fragrances, flavors. But also the history of an entire territory. It can be found in the winds and temperatures that condition the ripening and the vocation of the different varieties to the different sides of the valleys. It is no coincidence that the patient fatigue of the winemakers and the diversity of the microclimates within the Trentino territory are the elements of an equation that has been able to produce unique wines and prestigious bottles. However, some wines can tell the territory better than others, because the vines from which they come have their roots here. They are the autochthonous vines like the Nosiola, from which the precious Holy Wine, typical of the Valle dei Laghi, is also obtained. The Marzemino della Vallagarina, also mentioned by Mozart in his Don Giovanni, which returns curiously different expressions on the different sides of the valley divided by the Adige river. Still the Teroldego della Piana Rotaliana, the prince of Trentino wines, full bodied and ruby, as well as the Müller Thurgau, which despite not being an autochthonous grape, found in the soil it found in the porphyritic soil and in the important temperature ranges of the Cembra Valley the optimal conditions for an excellent yield. As also the Chardonnay at the base of the excellent production of Trentodoc, the now famous mountain bubbles, which gave birth to the classic Italian method. An internationally appreciated excellence that perhaps tells better than many words this province, its nature, its environment and its mountain. If a few months are often enough to produce a still wine, for Trentodoc – classic method sparkling wine – a much longer period is needed, ranging from a minimum of 15 months, as established by the specification, up to 10 years for a large reserve. To protect the quality of the method of production of these sparkling wines is the Trento Doc Institute, born in 1984.

The village of Trentino grappa: Santa Massenza

The products of a territory reflect their essence through stories that are handed down as sacred relics. And the history of Santa Massenza and its grappa makers – a small hamlet in the municipality of Vezzano – is unique in the world of distillation. In this small village of one hundred and twenty souls, or a little more, there are five distilleries, all run by five families, which bear the same surname: Poli. Family art that has been handed down from generation to generation and that makes distillation the pivot of the economy of this small village nestled in the Valle dei Laghi, behind Trento and Monte Bondone. Here the vineyards are cultivated almost exclusively in nosiola, which finds a particular expression here thanks to the Mediterranean microclimate. The supply chain for many of the grappa produced by the Poli is practically closed cycle: grape cultivation, harvest, vinification, marc recovery and distillation. All in the house. Each Poli di Santa Massenza produces grappas from local pomace, from the traditional Trentino blends, to the single grape varieties such as the white grappas of müller thurgau, traminer, yellow muscat and, of course, nosiola. But the spearhead of the distillers of Santa Massenza (but also of other distillers of the Valle dei Laghi) is the grappa of Vino Santo produced from the residual pomace from the production of the Holy Wine. The grappa obtained (very little) is then aged in the small barrels used for the aging of the Holy Wine which, therefore, is enriched with the aromas of passito wine which is extracted from the staves. In this way grappa acquires intense and elegant aromas during slow oxidation in the barrels. Not to be missed if you pass there.

Trentino in a jar

Among the numerous events that want to make known the places where Trentino products grow and are grown, there is the one that wants to enclose "Trentino in a jar". There are twelve farmhouses located throughout the territory that offer themselves as outposts for an exciting experience that encompasses the entire supply chain: from the collection of wild herbs, vegetables and fruit, to the creation of preserves, to learn the secrets of "life in a jar of glass ”, creating unique jams, special pests, flavored salts and much more. An experience aimed at families and all people who want to get closer to traditions, attentive to environmental sustainability and the healthiness of food. A journey into the daily life of rural life regulated by the times of nature where the harvest is carried out in the early morning or in the evening when the sun is not too high to preserve the characteristics of the products and the transformation takes place slowly and in a traditional way without industrial processes or means . Info: https://www.visittrentino.info/it/trentino-in-barattolo