Lagrein

Lagrein belongs to Alto Adige, the German speaking province at the top of Italy, and specifically to the gravel terraces around Bolzano. DNA work places it as an offspring of Teroldego, which makes it a relative of Syrah at one remove, and the dark colour and the peppery edge in the wine both make sense in that light.

It gives one of the deepest coloured reds in Italy, close to opaque, with high acidity and a firm, slightly drying tannin. The flavours are dark: black cherry, plum, violet and bitter chocolate, with a savoury finish. Historically that firmness was the problem, because the tannin could be harsh and green, and the grape was often bled off early to make the pale rosé the region calls Lagrein Kretzer.

Warmer sites, later picking and gentler extraction fixed most of that. The full red, labelled Lagrein Dunkel or simply Lagrein Riserva, is now a confident wine that takes oak and holds a decade. It remains local: almost all of it is grown within sight of Bolzano, and very little leaves the province.