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Alto Adige: 24 expert-rated wines to try

Did you know the Alto Adige DOC has 20 permitted varieties? It's a jewel for wine lovers looking to explore and enjoy. Below, our expert Richard Baudains selects 24 wines you need to try.

For Austrians and Germans, and a great number of the people who live there, it is the ‘Südtirol’ – the southern province of the Tyrol. For Italians, it is the ‘Alto Adige’, the Upper Valley of the river Adige.

This bilingual province on the border with Austria is a meeting place of cultures created by the twists and turns of history. What is now the Trentino-Alto Adige region spent more of the last 200 years of its history under Austrian rule than Italian, and it was only after the defeat of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire in WWI that it was incorporated into Italy.

Not least of the influences of its cultural heritage regard the wine production of this fascinating border area. Grapes of northern European origin grow alongside international and local varieties; barriques coexist with giant casks with elaborate carved heads; and in many cellars the chief winemaker still retains the title of ‘Kellermeister’.

The wine growing areas of the Alto Adige stretch north from the border with the neighbouring Trentino in the shape of a letter ‘Y’.

The lower part, the Bassa Atesina, follows the valley of the Adige to Bolzano, where viticulture branches northeast into the Isarco Valley towards Bressanone, and northwest past Merano, into the Venosta Valley.


Expert-rated Alto Adige: 24 to try


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