Cantina Toblino: history, tradition and innovation

ABSTRACT

Cantina Toblino, a story that starts from afar but is renewed every day.

Cantina Toblino, the heart of viticulture in the Valle dei Laghi, was born in 1960 at the behest of a group of passionate winemakers who glimpsed the great wine-growing vocation of the Valle dei Laghi. To date, there are over 600 wine-grower members with nearly 850 hectares of vineyards. The attention they pay daily to the care of the vineyard is high, continuous manual work that requires passion, patience, great dedication and continuous training. For over 20 years, Cantina Toblino has managed the land of the Mensa Vescovile, a single block of 40 hectares under direct management, cultivated for years according to the principles of organic viticulture. Today over a third of the vineyards of the Cantina Toblino members are converted to organic, paying great attention to the environment, people and the care of the vineyard, producing grapes of the highest quality, a fundamental basis for wines.

Precisely in this context, the Vènt project was born, with the ambition to best express the identity of the wines of the Valle dei Laghi and the savoir-faire of Cantina Toblino, organic intended as an expression of quality and territorial safeguard. The lakes, in the name, the wind in the identity. An inseparable union that makes the Valle dei Laghi the most varied the Alpine landscape allows. Indelible traces of ancestral mutations. Water, rocks, air. Mixed who knows how and when, until they form scenarios of an apparently homogeneous habitat, in reality all to be discovered. Still mixed, with the work of man, of his constant work. Silent work, often forgotten, but which shaped the valley: it made it ‘genius loci’. With what ‘site genius’? That of being an area that allows you to intuit, glimpse misunderstood atmospheres in the landscape. You see, you admire, the panorama seems homologous to you and in reality it is a triumph of diversity. The one that fascinates with spontaneity; as the boundaries intersect between water and sky, lands and rocky walls, all blurred, one into the other. With decidedly significant natural archetypes. That testify to an agricultural tradition, a history intertwined with vines and vines, between conservation and innovation. As the valley focuses on tradition to develop its physiognomy, applying (almost) unconsciously the lesser known meaning of the word ‘tradition’. That from the Latin ‘tradizio’, Greek derivation of ‘tradere’, that is to say to deliver and transmit meanings that have links with the concept of ‘betrayal’. Although this is intended as a ‘consecutive’ of environmental specificity, in order to affirm the identity value of everything related, it is close to its origin, to ‘open up the native land to light’. Holm oaks, olive trees, especially vines. Few other Alpine resorts can boast such a singular vine cult. Vines and wines of a place, between beneficial waters and breezes. A valley where the rows almost blend into the blue of the water and the clear blue Alpine sky. For centuries vines grown on fields torn from the mountain. On terraces which fortunately prevented the intensive exploitation of the territory. Here you cannot see vineyards without imperfections. The aesthetic is still the result of the hand of man, of the winemaker. Safe hand planted the row by eye, respecting the ridge of the hill, the (right) direction of exposure towards the afternoon sun. That’s why still in this valley wines stand out in that they tell the territory where they are born. They contain knowledge. Not just flavors. But how do you understand this valley? Just let yourself be guided by the landscape. Using the wind, the Hour. Vènt, breezes, gusts that transmit voices, sounds, condition microclimates, and therefore cultures and cultures.

Vènt, a project that starts from the vine to obtain excellent quality grapes and ends in the cellar, among the French oak barrels, terracotta amphorae. A project born from the passion of man, in the vineyard and in the cellar, and which takes the form of tasting, an unforgettable moment imprinted in our mind.

Everything starts from the wind, the identity of a territory like the Valle dei Laghi, Foll is  unique, complex, lively and elegant Chardonnay.

Las, as the founding element of the soil on which our vines grow, is a round, full-bodied, tenacious Lagrein .

Our attachment to history, represented by a capital that delimits our vineyards, Praàl is an incredibly harmonious Pinot Blanc.

The importance of people, the openness to what comes from outside and that we do not know at the beginning, Da Fòra is an intriguing, fragrant, new Manzoni Bianco.

Passion, from the vine to the glass, perceptible in the fresh air in the Valle dei Laghi, Baticòr is an elegant, delicate and refined Pinot Noir.

Wines that complete a range made up of Largiller and L’Ora, wines that have been able to reinterpret and enhance the qualities of the only autochthonous white Trentino grape variety, Nosiola and of the red eLimarò, the result of the traditional drying technique.

It has the charm of exclusivity, a rare, unique, memorable nectar. So unparalleled as to be protected as an ‘endangered wine’: it is the Vino Santo Trentino. Few other wines can boast a word in their name that evokes dreams, relaunches moments of pleasure, satisfies the present by recovering the past and – at the same time – relaunches the future. Here the Trentino Holy Wine is the whole of all this, and not only.

On Monday 17 February 2020 the selections of the Vènt line were presented to a small group of experts and professionals from the food and wine world in Trentino Alto Adige. “Stories of an encounter in Trentino…”, a very particular evening that enhanced these excellent wines paired with the dishes created by Chef Sebastian Sartorelli, who knew how to best combine the flavors of the Trentino tradition with an innovative cuisine. This is the menu of the evening:

Garda meatballs with delicate lime mayonnaise and aromatic herb powder

Praàl – Pinot Bianco Trentino DOC 2018

Trentino tacos with cod, artichokes and Trentino chili

Da Fora – Manzoni Bianco Trentino DOC 2018

Risotto with bites of trout marinated in lime

Foll – Chardonnay Trentino DOC 2018

Bleggio rabbit ravioli with Casolét foam and spinach

Baticor – Pinot Nero Trentino DOC 2016

Capel del Prete braised in Lagrein with mashed potatoes from Lomaso and spinach

Las – Lagrein Trentino DOC 2016

Petit patisserié

Vino Santo Trentino DOC 2004

The evening met with great appreciation from the participants, the new wines and the cuisine impressed with the aromas and flavors that brought to mind memories of the Valle dei Laghi, its idyllic landscapes, a healthy and fresh air, in which grows the vines of Cantina Toblino, cultivated day by day with passion.