Following the trail of records about the past of vines, grapes, and wines at the juncture of the Alps and the Adriatic

Abstract

The article presents records that follow the trail of viticulture and winemaking in documents and codices, as well as historiographical and scholarly writings from the early Middle Ages to the nineteenth century in the territory between the Alps and the Adriatic. Emphasis is on references to varietal wines, especially Terrano and Refosco. It was already centuries ago that the name Terrano appeared in records in relation to the vines and wines produced in the Littoral, Inner Carniola, and Istria. From the end of the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, the above-mentioned name as the designation of a vine variety gave way to the name of the similar vine Refosco. There are diverging expert opinions regarding the characteristics, differences and similarities between the two varieties of vine and grape. In terms of their substantial differences, the lawsuit over the Karst or Istrian Terrano thus remains unsettled.