Red Grape · Trentino-Alto Adige
Trentino's velvet red from one gravel plain: Lagrein's parent, Syrah's cousin, sold to Venice since the 1400s and rebuilt in our time by Elisabetta Foradori.
Teroldego is the dark, velvety red grape of the Campo Rotaliano, a gravel plain in Trentino where the Noce meets the Adige. It has been sold to Venice since the 1400s and was the first Trentino wine to earn a DOC, in 1971. It tastes like a softer Lagrein, which is fitting, because it is Lagrein's parent.
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Clearing it up
Campo Rotaliano, Trentino
Bolzano, Alto Adige
The anchor fact: Teroldego and Lagrein are relatives from the same Adige valley, and both make inky, plummy reds. Teroldego is the parent and the softer wine; Lagrein has more grip and a bitter edge.
Taste · Where it sits
Forget scores out of five. Here’s Teroldego described against grapes you already know.
As dark and full as Lagrein, its child, but rounder. Foradori's Lezèr shows the light end the grape can reach with a short time on the skins.
Softer than Lagrein and far softer than Sagrantino; the thick skins give colour more than grip.
Fresh acidity from the day-night swings of the Adige valley keeps a 13.5% wine from feeling heavy.
Blackberry and blackcurrant with no sweetness; the fruit is darker than Schiava's strawberry, fresher than a Primitivo's.
Key flavours
The map
Teroldego is full-bodied, moderate grip, mapped against other red grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and grip resemble Teroldego.
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Serving guide
Serve at
16-18°C
16 to 18C for the Rotaliano wines; Lezèr and the rosato at 12 to 14C.
Decant
30 minutes
Half an hour for a young Riserva; the everyday wines need only a swirl.
Glass
Large Balloon Glass
A wide bowl lets the violet and blackberry out.
Drink within
3-5 days
Everyday Rotaliano within three years; Riserva from three to ten.
Cellar
2-10 years
Foradori's Granato and the best Riservas keep a decade; the tannin softens further.
On the table
Start with the home-table matches that made the grape, then browse the full cuisine library.
The Trentino plate
Potato fritters with cheese and speck are rich and salty; Teroldego's fresh acidity cuts the fat and its soft tannin does not fight the cheese.
Dumplings and speck
Bread dumplings with smoked speck want a dark red without harsh tannin; the round, blackberry-fruited Teroldego is the local match.
The Sunday bottle
Rare beef and gravy suit a full red with soft tannin and lift; Teroldego gives the weight of a Lagrein without the grip.
For the earthy side
Porcini bring an earthy depth that meets Teroldego's dark fruit and peppery spice; a Riserva with a few years on it is best.
Browse every pairing
Buy it · three to start with
A curated trio across the price range, then every Teroldego on sale in the UK right now.
Entry · everyday
3 retailers
Teroldego Rotaliano
3 retailers
£12.70
Why this one: Cavit's Bottega Vinai from Mezzolombardo, on the plain itself: the honest everyday Rotaliano, in three UK shops at about £13.
The sweet spot
1 retailer
Teroldego Rotaliano
1 retailer
£20.70
Why this one: Endrizzi's Superiore Riserva: blackberry and blackcurrant with roasted coffee and dark chocolate from the oak, about £21 and in four shops.
Special occasion
3 retailers
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
3 retailers
£33.00
Why this one: Elisabetta Foradori's Morei, from the woman the Italians call la signora del Teroldego: the single-vineyard bottle that put the grape among Italy's great reds, about £33.
12 of 23 bottles
4 retailers
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
4 retailers
£51.00
3 retailers
Teroldego Rotaliano
3 retailers
£12.70
3 retailers
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
3 retailers
£31.00
3 retailers
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
3 retailers
£31.34
3 retailers
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
3 retailers
£33.00
2 retailers
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
2 retailers
£24.00
£27.00
2 retailers
Bolgheri
2 retailers
£25.10
1 retailer
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
1 retailer
£12.50
1 retailer
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
1 retailer
£14.50
1 retailer
Teroldego Rotaliano
1 retailer
£15.50
£16.32
1 retailer
Teroldego Rotaliano
1 retailer
£17.00
1 retailer
Vigneti delle Dolomiti / Weinberg Dolomiten
1 retailer
£17.50
Denominations
The appellations where Teroldego plays a starring role.
Where it grows
Italy's alpine wine country: Teroldego from the Piana Rotaliana, Trento DOC sparklers raised on dolomitic limestone, and Alto Adige whites perfumed by glacial air.
The terroir
Teroldego is a one-plain grape. The difference between bottles is whether they come from the Rotaliano gravel or from the hills around it.
Campo Rotaliano
Mezzolombardo, Mezzocorona, San Michele all'Adige
The DOC: deep gravel and stones from the river Noce, a thin topsoil, big day-night swings. The dark, velvety wines of Foradori, Endrizzi and the co-operatives.
The Trentino hills
Slopes above the plain and the Adige valley
Sold as Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT: Foradori's Lezèr and the single-vineyard Morei and Sgarzon come from here.
Further afield
Tuscany's Maremma, California, Australia, Brazil
A few adventurous plantings: Sassotondo's Franze in the Maremma is the one you may meet in the UK.
Editorial
The Campo Rotaliano is a flat bed of gravel and stones between Mezzolombardo, Mezzocorona and San Michele all'Adige. The river Noce laid it down and topped it with a thin layer of sand and silt. Teroldego grows almost nowhere else. Documents from the 1400s record its wine being sold to Venice. Italy's grape register still lists the old spellings, Teroldigo and Teroldega, and Goethe's 1876 Tiroldico. The name may come from the tirelle, the wire frames the vines were trained on, or from a village called Teroldeghe.
Something purplish and velvety about the wine. Unlike Lagrein, it is soft: it does not finish with bitterness, and its tannins are round.
Wikipedia, TeroldegoDNA settled its family in 2006. Teroldego is a full sibling of Dureza, one of the two parents of Syrah. It is itself a parent of Lagrein, the dark red of Bolzano further up the valley. The two wines taste like relatives: inky colour, plum and blackberry, a touch of spice. Teroldego is the softer one, with round tannin and no bitter finish.
It has been on Italy's grape register since 1970, with about 800 hectares planted, nearly all in Trentino. The growers formed a consortium in 1948 and won a DOC in 1971, the first in Trentino. Teroldego Rotaliano must be made from Teroldego alone, from vineyards on the plain, and the Riserva and Superiore tiers age longer. Bottles from outside the plain are sold as Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT.
The grape's modern reputation is largely one woman's work. Elisabetta Foradori took over her family's estate at 20. She spent thirty years proving Teroldego could stand with Italy's great reds, the Nebbiolos and Sangioveses included. Her Granato, Morei and Sgarzon are the reference bottles, and her Lezèr showed the grape can also make a light, chillable red. The big co-operatives, Cavit and Mezzacorona, make the everyday versions that most UK shops carry.
Good to know
Teroldego is a dark, full-bodied red with blackberry, blackcurrant and black cherry, violets, a peppery spice and, with oak, coffee and dark chocolate. The tannin is round and the finish soft, without Lagrein's bitterness. Fresh acidity keeps it lively.
Yes. DNA tests show Teroldego is a parent of Lagrein, and a full sibling of Dureza, one of Syrah's parents. That makes Syrah a cousin. Teroldego and Lagrein look alike in the glass, but Teroldego is softer and rounder.
From the Campo Rotaliano, a gravel plain in Trentino between Mezzolombardo, Mezzocorona and San Michele all'Adige, where the river Noce meets the Adige. About 800 hectares are planted, almost all there. Its wine was sold to Venice in the 1400s.
The DOC for Teroldego grown on the Rotaliano plain, the first DOC in Trentino, granted in 1971. It must be 100% Teroldego. Superiore and Riserva versions age longer. Bottles from outside the plain are sold as Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT.
Elisabetta Foradori is the name: Granato, Morei and Sgarzon are the top bottles and Lezèr the light one. Endrizzi, Zeni and De Vigili make good Rotaliano; Cavit and Mezzacorona's Castel Firmian are the everyday bottles at £10 to £13.
Serve it at 16 to 18C in a large glass and give a young bottle half an hour of air. Drink the everyday wines within three years; a Riserva or Foradori's Granato keeps for ten. Lezèr is best cool and young.
Explore by style
Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.
Keep exploring
865 wines
12 denominations
