This month we’re taking it straight to the top, visiting Italy’s northernmost region and leading source of stunning Dolomite peaks, subsequent green valleys, and befuddling nomenclature. Even the above mouthful is an abbreviation, the hyphens and slashes at once repping and yadda yadda yadda-ing centuries of tradition, turmoil, contestation and
change. But it’s worth it to do the toponomastics (a real, actual word that means: the research and study of place names) when it comes to Trentino Alto-Adige; the guises it has gone through over the years are the story of the place, inscriptions of its singularity, in terms of wine and every other thing.
Trentino-Alto Adige holds a special, semi-autonomous status and consists of two territories: Alto-Adige in the north, also known as Sudtirol, which corresponds to the autonomous province of Bolzano, and Trentino in the south, corresponding to the autonomous province of Trento. Though this arrangement dates back to 1948, the last local holdouts only officially it in 1992. The population of Bolzano is largely German-speaking, while Trento primarily uses Italian.
You can trace this bifurcation back to the Romans, who invaded in 15 BC and divided the area into two separate states. Following the fall of the Empire, the Bavarians took over present day Alto Adige, while the Longobards extended their influence to the Duchy of Trento. The two provinces then spent centuries as contested spaces for invasions, peasant rebellions, various struggles between Church and Empire - and were mostly administered separately, before Napoleon briefly united them, and named the northern part Alto Adige to efface its prior relationship with Tyrol. After his exile, the place passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs, where it was again called Tyrol - though today’s Alto-Adige/Sudtirol was sometimes referred to as Mitteltirol, i.e. Middle Tyrol while Südtirol, i.e. South Tyrol, indicated mostly today's Trentino, which is not called Sudtirol anymore.
Confused? There’s more: after World War I and the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the whole region was awarded to Italy, just in time for Mussolini to engage in a campaign of forced Italianization, outlawing references to Tyrol and renaming it Venezia Tridentina to emphasize a historical link with one of the Roman states that used to constitute it. Nazi Germany also occupied its heights for a brief period, but several post-war treaties between Austria and Italy later, things seem as settled as plausible: a 2006 attempt to mount a referendum, in which the electorate could vote to stay with Italy, become fully independent or return to Austria, was soundly rejected.
Wine-wise, Trentino-Alto Adige boasts one of the most unique and variegated scenes anywhere: 3/4 of all the juice coming down this mountain is produced collectively, by 12 co-operatives composed of 3300 mostly small (avg. plot size: 2.5 acres) growers and their families. The co-ops are organized by town (and thus, terroir) and most focus on a handful of local varietals. It’s a division of labor that contrasts sharply with the visionary individual winemaker narrative we usually encounter, but you can’t argue with the results. Responsible for less than one tenth of Italy’s total wine production, Trentino-Alto Adige leads the nation in bottles meriting a DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) designation, as 98% of the output qualifies.
For January we are featuring two outstanding examples of all this collaborative élan. Catina Terlano is one of the oldest co-ops in Tretino-Alto Adige, founded in 1893 by 24 farmers. Today it has 140 members and is arguably the most famous and celebrated of the region’s dozen group efforts - in part because it produces maybe the planet’s greatest Pinot Bianco, which is what we have here. The rosso comes from the Colterenzio collective, which was established in 1960, making it one of the youngest around. It has 300 members and makes mostly white wine, but the reds are fantastic, especially this Riserva Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir.)
Prost/Salut!
Alan Hicks - Wine Buyer, Noe Valley
Terlano Pinot Bianco Tradition 2024
Region: Alto-Adige About the Winery: The foundation of the Cantina Terlano in 1893 took place at a
time when agriculture was the mainstay of the regional economy. Apart from a few
innovative winegrowers, however, who looked to the Rheingau region for new ideas
and brought grape varieties from Germany and France to South Tyrol, agriculture
under the domination of a few big landowners was backward.
The landlords were also the dominant factor in winemaking in the region. In order
to liberate themselves from this domination, 24 Terlano winegrowers decided to
join forces and founded the Cantina Terlano. Whereas red wines were more
common in South Tyrol at the end of the 19th century, with a red to white ratio of
80:20, Terlano was already well known as a white wine area in 1893. Over the years
this focus on white wines has been consolidated, and today the ratio of whites to
reds at the Cantina Terlano is 70 percent white to 30 percent red.
About the Winemaking: Manual harvest and selection of the grapes; gentle
pressing and clarification of the must by natural sedimentation; slow fermentation
at a controlled temperature in stainless steel tanks, aging on the lees in steel tanks
for 6-7 months.
Tasting Notes: On the nose this classic Pinot Bianco has crisp notes of apple and
pear mingling with aromas of raspberry and lime, plus a touch of camomile and
lemon grass to round off the composition. On the palate, pear and quince flavors
with a salty minerality. The wine tickles the tongue and goes on to deliver a
persistent aftertaste.
Winemaking: Collective
Price per bottle / per case
$30.99/334.70
Suggested Food Pairing: salmon
and tuna carpaccio; courgette
flowers with a stracchino cheese
or burrata; avocado salad;
regional dishes like spinach
spaetzle; spaghetti alla
carbonara; scallops au gratin, and
grilled scampi, dentex or sea
bream
Colterenzio St. Daniel Pinot Nero Riserva 2020
January 2026
Region: Trentino-Alto
Adige/Südtirol
About the Winery: Founded in 1960, the Colterenzio winery is one of the youngest
winegrowers’ cooperatives in Alto Adige. In 1960, 26 winegrowers founded their
own winery to be more independent – and named it after the hamlet they came
from: Schreckbichl in German, Colterenzio in Italian (meaning: terrible hill.) These
winegrowers can be considered rebels but at the same time pioneers for right after
the foundation of their own winery they were setting the course towards quality.
Today, 300 winegrowers together with the people working at Colterenzio continued
this path.
The winegrowers grow their grapes on a total of 300 hectares; the vineyards are
located in one of the best wine growing areas of Alto Adige, on altitudes from 230
to 650 meters. 14 different varieties are cultivated. 35% of the wines at Colterenzio
are red, 65% are white. The Colterenzio winery cares about the environment, not
only in the vineyards, but also in the cellar. In the vineyard this means sustainable
viticulture and handpicked grapes. In the winery itself most of the electric energy
used in the winery is supplied by a photovoltaic installation, 100% of the electric
power is certified green and 70% of hot water requirements is provided by solar
panels and a heat recovery system.
About the Winemaking: Vineyards at an altitude of 350 – 450 metres a.s.l.; soils
are volcanic with an overlay of morainal deposits. The climate is cool with striking
differences between day and night time temperatures.
The grapes are destemmed, softly pressed and briefly cold-macerated; the
fermentation occurs at a constantly controlled temperature of 25° C for 14 days.
The young wine then refines into casks – 2/3 in large 35 hl casks and 1/3 in
barriques – where it goes through malolactic fermentation and remains for 12
months before bottling. The wine ages in bottle for further 12 months before
release. 100% Pinot Nero from 15-20 year-old, vertical espalier-trained vines.
Tasting Notes: Medium-intense garnet; red colour a seductive bouquet of cherry,
damsons, red fruits and cinnamon; medium-rich on the palate, supple and luscious
with flavours of black and red berries, velvety tannins and discreet hints of oak
spice.
Winemaking: Collective
Price per bottle / per case
$35.99/$
Suggested Food Pairing:
Delicately flavoured starters,
charcuterie veal escallops in
ginger sauce, roast partridge,
seared duck with plum glaze, and
meaty fish.
January 2026
Strangolapreti (Bread and Spinach Dumplings)
Made from stale bread, these hearty mountain dumplings are a great way to use leftover loaves. Enjoy with brown butter
and sage or floating in your favorite chicken or vegetable broth.
Ingredients
1 1/8 lb of spinach
7 1/16 oz of stale bread, blitzed into breadcrumbs
6 1/16 fl oz of whole milk
2 large eggs
3 oz of plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 3/4 oz of Grana Pradano*, grated
1 pinch of nutmeg, freshly grated
Salt & pepper to taste
1 3/4 oz of butter
semolina flour, for dusting
*(A hard cheese from the Po River Valley similar to Parmesan.)
Instructions
1. Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl with the milk, mix well and leave to soak.
2. Place a large frying pan over a high heat and add the spinach with just a sprinkle of water. Cover with a lid
for a couple of minutes whilst it wilts. Use kitchen tongs to stir the spinach until all the leaves are wilted.
Squeeze the spinach with the tongs to release excess liquid, then place in a sieve to drain and cool.
3 .Once cool enough to handle, squeeze out any more liquid and finely chop.
4. By now, the bread should have absorbed most of the milk. Place the bread in a bowl with the spinach, eggs,
nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix well.
5. Add the flour bit by bit until the mixture starts to dry up and forms a dough – the less flour you use, the
lighter and airier the dumplings will be. The mixture should be just stiff enough to roll into the dumpling shapes.
6. It is a good idea to cook a tester dumpling at this stage to check if the flour quantity is correct. Simply dollop
a spoonful of the mixture into salted boiling water– it should float to the top after a minute. If the dumpling falls
apart, add a little more flour. Taste and check the seasoning, too.
7. Use your hands to roll the mixture into little cylinder-shaped dumplings. If the mixture is very sticky, grease
your hands a little with vegetable oil which should make things easier. Place the dumplings on a tray sprinkled
with semolina flour to stop them from sticking.
8 .Cook the dumplings in salted boiling water in batches so as to not overcrowd the pan. They're cooked once
they rise to the surface.
9. As the dumplings are boiling away, add the butter to a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once the butter
melts, add the sage leaves and continue to cook until the sage starts to crisp up and the butter turns a nutty
brown.
10. Once the dumplings have floated to the top, drain and add to the flavoured butter. Toss to evenly coat then
serve up warm, with extra grated Grana Padano if desired.
