Schiava

Also known as: Vernatsch (South Tyrol), Trollinger (Württemberg)

Schiava is one of those grape varieties that shouldn’t be burdened with expectations. Its wines are pale, perfumed and light – often with notes of strawberries, violets and a fine bitterness on the finish. What appears arbitrary in industrial production becomes, in the hands of Foradori, a precise expression of Trentino’s alluvial soils.

The variety needs no oak, no concentration, no vinification trickery. It shows what it is: a grape for transparent, immediately drinkable wines that subscribe to the category of „serious, but not solemn“. In South Tyrol it’s as ubiquitous as Riesling on the Mosel – and equally underestimated if one only knows the mass-produced versions.