Nosiola is the white queen of the Trentino Dolomites. The fact that it has long held its native ground high up in the mountains on both sides of the Adige Valley not only lends it a cool texture and aromatic profile, but also helped ensure its survival during many years of obscurity. None of the many international grape varieties that arrived in Trentino’s vineyards after the phylloxera crisis—and later as a result of shifting winemaking philosophies and marketing trends—would likely have felt at home up there. Which is why Nosiola was never ripped out and simply remained in place across many sites.
Its historical importance as a quality wine was mainly tied to its role as the sole protagonist in Vino Santo, a now rarely produced sweet wine style that, in its finest versions, ranks among Italy’s very best dessert wines.
In its dry form, Nosiola was mostly sold as a decent table wine—which also has its place. Things only started to get truly exciting about thirty years ago, when the first winemakers slowly began to explore the grape’s real potential.
They experimented with lower yields, later harvests, replantings using the most suitable biotypes in well-ventilated, sunny sites, varying maceration times—short and long—and different fermentation vessels: stainless steel, cement, wood, and amphorae. The success of these trials wasn’t long in coming. Wines that had previously often seemed neutral and simple began to show substance, depth, and aromatic complexity.
A prime example of this evolution is Fontanasanta by Foradori—a remarkable Nosiola fermented in amphora.
