Trento celebrates the “brilliant bubbles” of Trentodoc, the first Italian metodo classico DOC

Trentino has a lot to say about the world of wine, also with its “mountain bubbles”, which – thanks to a market that has obviously been “hungry” for sparkling wines for some years now – have proven to stand up to significant competition, building a brand over the years – Trentodoc – credible in terms of quality, reliability, and longevity, fundamental in a historical moment of transition such as the one experienced by Trentino wine, which is facing challenging issues such as generation change, the digital communication revolution, environmental sustainability, climate change, technical and technological innovation, finding different answers, brought to light at the “Trentodoc Festival 2022”, an event organized by the Trentodoc Institute and Trentino Marketing, in recent days, in the territory of mountain bubbles.
Winemakers and cooperatives, highly advanced research institutes such as the Edmund Mach Foundation and the Kessler Foundation, strong and visionary personalities, multifaceted microclimates guarded by the Dolomites, a strong sense of belonging to the territory and a deeply cooperative social fabric are a kaleidoscopic force - also of friction - which leads an entire province to confront the challenges and uncertainties that society, markets, and politics pose relentlessly. The Trentodoc Institute is no exception, it has shown how different players with different markets can work in synergy if they have a common goal: to promote a quality product to make it recognizable.
“The differences between cooperative and private companies can be overcome if ideologies are overcome, if problems are faced pragmatically, accepting that different companies coexist, occupying different and complementary market spaces. The sparkling wine of Trentodoc - explains Enrico Zanoni, president of the Trentodoc Institute - created in some respects a virtuous example. In the council coexist the great traditional Maisons that have opened the breach for everyone, the cooperative world, small and medium producers, but aligning all on the common goal of enhancing the Trentodoc, creating notoriety and reputation, make it not so impossible. The Trentodoc Festival comes after a journey of more than ten years, where some initial mistrust has been overcome by time, thanks to mutual knowledge and success. Not a conclusion, but a stage that has taught us to break down ideological barriers, get to know one another, confront one another with respect and openness, and define clear and shared goals to be pursued consistently”.
Experience and competence, orographic and geological heritage, scientific and technological research: Trentodoc has all the cards to look to the future with a certain optimism, despite the worrying economic and social context, thanks to a solid market reputation and quality that is growing. After all, the “Trento” Doc date back to 1993: the first one in Italy reserved for a classic method, among the first in the world. Since then, the quality of Trentodoc has been entrusted to the production discipline. The harvest of exclusively Trentino grapes is carried out manually and the “base wine” is entrusted to slow aging in the bottle which varies from a minimum of 15 months for a Brut to 24 months for a Millesimato and to a minimum of 36 for the Riserva, but it can last for over 10 years on the lees.
Today, 1,154 hectares of vineyards are dedicated to the production of Trentodoc, divided between 4 grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, Pinot Bianco, and Pinot Meunier. The delimited area for production includes 74 wine-growing municipalities in the province of Trento, between Valle dell’Adige, Val di Cembra, Vallagarina, Valle del Sarca, Valsugana, and Valli Giudicarie. On a purely commercial level, sales in 2021 exceeded 12 million bottles and the overall turnover of the sector reached 150 million euros. Italy is driving the market, led by Trentino itself, but also in the southern regions, mountain bubbles are increasingly widespread, with sustained growth. Foreign markets confirm a weight on the absolute turnover of 15%: Europe and North America are the international areas of greatest development.
“Despite the contingent concerns, we manage to be rationally positive: the companies in Trentodoc are more and more numerous - continues the president Enrico Zanoni - they have solidity, they have a vision. We come from a peasant world that knows that after a bad harvest, a good harvest can come, to whom patience, tireless work, and long-term thinking are essential”.
Innovative research from a few years ago, conducted by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, together with the Edmund Mach Foundation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, entitled “New analytical methods for the geographical and varietal traceability of wine products” established how the presence of the specific aromatic compounds in wine makes it recognizable and identifies it starting from the territory and not from the creating method. “This supports our “Trentino” identity card, an orography that places us in a privileged position also with respect to climate change. We believe that technology is an instrument to support people’s knowledge and experience and to support sustainable, respectful, and high-quality viticulture. We don’t need to be afraid of the research, innovation, but combine different experiences and different aspects of tradition and innovation”, concludes Zanoni.
Guests of Enoteca Provinciale, at Palazzo Roccabruna, the WineNews had the opportunity to taste over 50 Riserve of bubbles from Trentodoc provided by around 20 wineries from the area, which confirm that as the high-quality Italian sparkling wine, the world in which Trentodoc is a fundamental part, not only has it been seasonally adjusted and is really suitable for the whole meal due to its light and elegant nature, but it has climbed a new and important step: if it is true that women were the first to have accelerated its consumption - and they are still its strongest consumers - today it is one of the symbols of our contemporary society because it is conviviality, meeting, ease of pairing and adapting to all food and gastronomic situations and more.
An in-depth overview of 20 vintages - from 2018 to 1999 - that confirms the aging capacity of the Trentino typology, and which are in the best tastings, will be further developed in the next dedicated monograph, to be released in December 2022 with I Quaderni di WineNews.