Tintilia is a red wine grape native to Italy. Some experts believed it was brought to Molise from Spain. The name (Tintiglia or Tintilia) could easily derive from the Spanish tinto, meaning red (in Italian, calling something tinto means that it is colored).

Where grown: Molise: long used as a blending grape, it is now possible to taste pure Tintilia in wines of the  Tintilia del Molise DOC (created only in 1998).

Viticulture: Medium sized bunches, with small berries. Though rustic and hardy, it yields very few grapes per bunch.

Wine style: Spicy and floral aromas. Full-bodied. Ripe red fruit, leather, and tobacco, mineral notes of flint and tar. Saline, very good acidity and noble tannins.

Bibliography

Italian Wine Unplugged (Positive Press, 2017), p.201-211.