I Love Italian Regional Cooking - Pairing Trentino-Alto Adige Cuisine With Red Wine

Great Trentino-Alto Adige food, fine local or other red wine...

Trentino-Alto Adige is located in the center of Italy’s northern border touching Switzerland and Austria. Trentino is the southern part of the region. The northern region is known as Alto Adige, formerly Südtirol. Trentino-Alto Adige is officially bilingual; a sizable portion of its population is German speaking. Consequently the local cuisine has a lot of Germanic influence.

Alto Adige kitchen in Italian wine cooking
This looks like a commercial kitchen.

Gnocchi di Pane (Bread Gnocchi) a base for sauces. Bardolino DOC from Veneto or Valtellina Rosso also known as Rosso di Valtellina DOC from Lombardy.

Do you like sausages? If you do, try one of the local specialties Biroldi con Crauti (Blood Sausages with Sauerkraut). This delicacy is stuffed with nuts and spiced with nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. It goes with the Dolcetto d’Alba DOC from Piedmont.

Speck (Smoked Ham) is quite popular in these parts. It’s made from boned pork shoulder. The best Speck come from local farmers’ smokehouses but you may have to be satisfied with a commercial version. Enjoy with a local wine made from the red Schiava grape or a Dolcetto d’Alba DOC.

Trentino Speck in Italian wine cooking
Speck and wine go well together.

Chamois is a local goat found in Gemsenfleisch (Chamois Tyrolean style) cooked with red wine vinegar, salt pork, sour cream, and herbs. It’s served over toasted bread. Suggested wine pairings include Cannonau di Sardegna DOC from Sardina, or if you want to go all out, Barolo DOCG from Piedmont.

If you’re not up to eating goat, enjoy Carne Salata (Marinated Beef with Juniper Berries). The locals marinate the beef for a month. Enjoy with Barbaresco DOCG from Piedmont or an Italian Pinot Nero.

Another fine beef dish is Costata di Manzo con Cipolle (Beef Ribs with Onions). Suggested wine pairings include Barbaresco DOCG and Barolo DOCG from Piedmont or a Chianti DOCG from Tuscany.

About the Author

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet, but to be honest, he would rather just drink fine Italian, French, or other wine, accompanied by the right foods and spend time with his wife and family. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. Check out his global wine website at www.theworldwidewine.com with his weekly column reviewing $10 wines and his new sections writing about (theory) and tasting (practice) organic and kosher wines. Check out his Italian wine website at www.theitalianwineconnection.com.

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