Trentino Vino Santo DOC, belonging to the designation Trentino DOC, is a sweet passito wine produced from Nosiola grapes, an autochthonous white-grapes vine typical of Valle del Sarca in Trentino.

The particularity of this wine is in the grapes treatment before the wine-making: they are in fact subjected to a long drying phase, which historically continued until the “holy” week (the week before Easter), giving the name “Vino Santo” (“Holy Wine” in Italian) to the wine. During the drying the Nosiola bunches are laid on special racks of reeds or wire mesh, called “arele”: here they lose about a third of their weight and are attacked by the noble mold Botrytis Cinerea which, under certain conditions of temperature, humidity and ventilation, promotes further evaporation of water and the concentration of sugars.

Today the production protocol requires that wine-making never takes place before 1.st February and wine can be released for consumption after at least three years. It also provides that the wine can bear the mention “Superiore” when certain conditions occur, which are:

• the withering must last at least until 1.st March;
• the grapes must be produced exclusively in the municipalities of Calavino, Cavedine, Lasino, Padergnone, Vezzano;
• the wine must age for at least 48 months before being put on the market.

Trentino Vino Santo lends itself well to long periods of aging, even decades. Be careful not to confuse it with the Tuscan Vin Santo (“Vino” written without “o”), which is made with Malvasia and Trebbiano grapes.