Teroldego is Trentino's principal native red grape, and its home is the Campo Rotaliano: a flat alluvial fan laid down by the Noce torrent, gravelly and free-draining, set between mountain walls. Teroldego Rotaliano has been a DOC since 1971. Here the vine is traditionally trained on the pergola trentina, a system that holds the canopy high and spread out.
Its family tree was settled by DNA research: Lagrein is a descendant of Teroldego, and the same family connects to Dureza, one of the parents of Syrah. Two apparently isolated Alpine varieties turn out to be related to each other and to a grape of the Rhône.
In the glass it is deeply coloured, on dark fruit and violet, with measured tannin and lively acidity: fresher and less burly than the colour promises. The origin of the name is disputed — some tie it to the Tyrol, others to the wires used to train the vines — and neither reading is proven.
