Nosiola

right|thumb|Late harvested Nosiola grapes with some noble rot infection that are destined for further drying and Vin Santo production. 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.

==History== left|thumb|The name Nosiola could be derived from the Italian word for hazelnut (nocciola) which may be a reference to either the hazelnut aroma note that sometimes comes out in Nosiola-based wines or to the light, instead of dark, brown color that raisined Nosiola grapes turn when they are very mature. 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.