Lagrein is the native red grape of Alto Adige, the variety that made the Bolzano basin famous. It gives wines of a dense, almost black colour, scented with violet and dark fruit, and a traditional rosé, the Kretzer. It is grown throughout Trentino-Alto Adige, but its home is Gries, the old wine village that is now a district of Bolzano.
Origin and family
Lagrein has been grown in Alto Adige for centuries, and for a long time it was an everyday grape rather than a prestigious one. The name suggests the Vallagarina, the Adige valley south of Trento, where the grape may have come from: a hypothesis, not a certainty. On its family, genetics has given a clear answer. According to a study published in 2006, Lagrein is a child of Teroldego, the red of the Campo Rotaliano, and therefore a half-sibling of Marzemino, which shares that parent. Through Teroldego it is also a distant relative of Syrah.
Gries and the Bolzano basin
Lagrein ripens late and wants heat. It finds it in the Bolzano basin, sheltered by mountains and among the hottest places in Italy in summer. At Gries the vines grow on loose alluvial soils of sand and gravel brought down by the Talvera stream: deep, warm ground, suited to a structured red. Here the Benedictine monks of Muri-Gries abbey, who came from Switzerland in 1845, have grown Lagrein for almost two centuries, and Lagrein from Gries is still the most sought after. Outside Bolzano the grape is found in the Bassa Atesina, around Caldaro and Termeno, and in Trentino, on the Adige valley floor.
Dunkel and Kretzer
Lagrein gives two wines. The red Lagrein, called Dunkel («dark») in German, has an intense ruby colour verging on purple and aromas of violet, blackberry, sour cherry and plum, to which ageing adds cocoa, coffee and liquorice. On the palate it is full and soft, with dense tannins and an acidity that keeps it fresh; Riserva wines spend time in wood and age well. The Kretzer is the rosé: it is made with a short maceration on the skins, has a cherry-pink colour and smells of cherry and rose. It used to be very common; today the red is the best-known version.
Appellations and wineries
Lagrein is mostly bottled as Alto Adige DOC, also with the Gries mention, and as Trentino DOC; it is also used in Casteller and Valdadige. It plays a supporting role too: in Lago di Caldaro and in Santa Maddalena it can join Schiava, adding colour and structure. Among the wineries in our directory, Cantina di Bolzano, born from the merger of the Gries and Santa Maddalena cooperatives, is the guardian of Lagrein from Gries. Outside Italy there are small plantings in Australia and California.
At the table
Red Lagrein is the wine for the heartiest Tyrolean cooking: goulash, roe deer and venison with lingonberries, pork shank, roast pork with sauerkraut, aged mountain cheeses. The Kretzer, served cool, goes well with speck, Schlutzkrapfen ravioli, canederli dumplings and white meat.