Summary
Endrizzi in San Michele all'Adige is one of the oldest and best-known wineries in Trentino. The business has been in family hands since 1885 – by now for five generations. At the heart of the range stands Teroldego, the region's leading red grape, interpreted here across several tiers right up to the concentrated Gran Masetto. Alongside it come fresh white wines from the Adige valley, the Bordeaux varieties the founders brought to Trentino more than a hundred years ago, and bottle-fermented Trentodoc sparkling wines. Endrizzi thus combines Alpine freshness with a remarkable breadth of styles.
History
The estate's story begins in 1885, when Francesco and Angelo Endrici founded a wine business in the Località Masetto near San Michele all'Adige. Trentino was then part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and San Michele had been a centre of oenological knowledge ever since the famous agricultural teaching and research institute was established there in 1874. That proximity to research explains a good deal: the Endricis were among the first to bring Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot to Trentino in the early 20th century, without abandoning the native Teroldego and Lagrein.
The family name is in fact Endrici; Endrizzi is the local dialect variant that prevailed as the name of the winery. Across the generations the business remained closely tied to public life in the region – family members were active in provincial politics and on the wine councils of Trento, among other roles.
Today Paolo Endrici, a lawyer by training, and his wife Christine, a German architect, run the estate in the fourth generation. Christine Endrici played a decisive part in the architectural renewal of the cellar. The fifth generation, Lisa Maria and Daniele, is already working in the business and holds degrees in wine economics. The historic Masetto building still serves as a tasting and events venue.
Location & Terroir
San Michele all'Adige lies in the Adige valley around 20 kilometres north of Trento, where the valley opens out into the Piana Rotaliana – that small alluvial plain between the Adige and Noce rivers regarded as the classic home of Teroldego. The soils here are predominantly alluvial: gravelly, sandy, free-draining and deposited by the rivers over millennia. Such soils warm up quickly, store little water and force the vines to root deeply – ideal conditions for a red wine with clear fruit and fine structure.
Climatically, Trentino benefits from a double influence. During the day the Ora del Garda, the afternoon breeze that rises from Lake Garda, ventilates the vineyards and tempers the summer heat; at night cool air drops down from the Dolomite valleys. The resulting wide diurnal swings are why the wines retain their acidity and aroma despite the southern sun. Vineyard elevations run from the valley floor up onto the slopes – white varieties and the base wines for Trentodoc come preferentially from the higher, cooler parcels.
Style & Philosophy
Endrizzi follows no dogma but a pragmatic, precise approach: cleanly made wines in which variety and origin remain legible. The estate is regarded as one of the early champions of environmentally gentle viticulture in Trentino-Alto Adige; the new cellar, too, was planned along ecological lines. In the vineyard that means reduced yields, careful canopy work and hand harvesting for the top wines.
In the cellar, two hands work side by side. The whites and the simpler reds are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel to preserve freshness and fruit. For the top reds the grapes first go through appassimento drying, then fermentation in steel tanks and finally ageing in barriques. The Trentodoc sparkling wines, in turn, mature on the lees for two to eight years after their second fermentation in bottle, depending on the cuvée – an exercise in patience that gives them their fine mousse and brioche notes.
Notable Sites & Wines
The range is organised into several lines, from accessible varietal wines to the estate's calling cards:
- Gran Masetto – a pure Teroldego (Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT) from grapes dried for around three months and aged in barrique; the estate's flagship
- Masetto Due – a blend of Teroldego and Cabernet that links the estate's old and new grape worlds
- Piancastello – Trentodoc Riserva, a traditional-method sparkling wine with long lees ageing
- Teroldego Rotaliano DOC – the classic, juicy and fresh reading of the leading red grape
- Trentino DOC – varietal wines from Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Müller-Thurgau, Lagrein, Cabernet and Merlot
- Dono – a sweet wine from the Endrizzi cellar
Added to this is the family's second pillar: Serpaia di Endrizzi in Tuscany, where around 30 hectares are planted to Sangiovese as well as Cabernet and Merlot – and where olive oil is produced too.
Awards
Endrizzi is regularly listed in the relevant wine guides as one of the leading houses in Trentino. Gran Masetto in particular draws attention time and again: the 2020 vintage won gold at the international Mundus Vini competition and was named the best red wine of Trentino, while earlier vintages took gold medals at the Sélections Mondiales des Vins in Canada. The Trentodoc sparkling wines and the Trentino DOC varietal wines also appear regularly among the front runners at international tastings – evidence that it is not just a single prestige wine but the entire range that is produced at a consistent level here.