Nosiola

Nosiola (or Groppello bianco) is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Trentino region north of Lake Garda in the Valle dei Laghi. Here it is used in varietal Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) wines and as a blending component in wines such as Sorni Bianco from Trento. It is also used to produce a dessert wine in the Vin Santo style from grapes that have been allowed to dry out prior to fermentation.

Ampelographers believe that the name Nosiola is derived from the Italian word nocciola (hazelnut) which could be a reference to the characteristic toasted hazelnut aromas that varietal examples of Nosiola exhibit. It could also be a reference to the grape berries themselves since, unlike most white grape varieties, they don't turn a dark, raisin brown when very mature. Another theory is that the name is a corruption of ociolet which in the local dialect of the Trentino regions means "little eyes" and was associated with the (likely now extinct) 18th-century wine grape Uva dall'Occhio bianca whose name meant "white eye's grape" and may have been related to Nosiola.

Another grape that may be related to Nosiola is the ancient Roman wine grape Raetica that was reportedly the most widely planted white wine grape in northern Italy during Roman times. Ampelographers have long thought that Groppello di Revò (which is grown in the Val di Non region of Trentino) and Nosiola (which is also known as Groppello bianco) were descendants of Raetica but so far there has not been any conclusively historical evidence or DNA analysis to confirm that theory.

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