From the warm valley floor around Bolzano comes Alto Adige's signature red: deeply coloured, velvety Lagrein, full of dark cherry and violet and finished with the appealing bitter twist that is the grape's fingerprint. Grown here since the Middle Ages, it is the red heart of a region famed above all for its whites.
Modern cellars have polished its once-rustic tannins into something plush and ageworthy, and the grape also gives a vivid salmon-pink rosé, Lagrein Kretzer. Alpine-fresh yet richly fruited, it is one of northern Italy's most characterful and least-known reds.