Alcohol: 13%
Grape(s): Teroldego
Localization: Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
Tasting Notes: Loads of bright red fruit that comes bursting from the glass. This wine is fermented in cement vats for one year to keep the primary fruit is very much intact. Sour cherry and blackberry are followed by lighter tones of crushed mineral, ash and grilled herb.
Notes: The Campo Rotaliano is a well-demarcated geographical area, a sort of indentation of the Valle dell’Adige, wedged between the mountains.
Its history and formation are linked to the Noce River, which for centuries has carried limestone, granite and porphyritic debris. Within this small plain, depending on the basic soil content, it is possible to differentiate micro zones that have been given different names by the winemakers.
It is through gathering together the grapes of some of these micro zones, characterized by predominantly sandy soils and with different quality requirements that the “Foradori” is born.
The Domain: “How can one try to describe the wines of Elisabetta? It’s easy to say that, in this case, the grape does not fall far from the vine or the hand that cultivated it. Foradori – immediately striking, gracefully elegant, discerningly tasteful, soberly serious while at the same time wry and playful, and above all always generous and sincere. Wait, is that Elisabetta or her wines? In fact, it could easily be used to describe one or the other.” – Kevin McKenna of Louis Dressner Selections
Elisabetta’s journey in her “wine life” is a familiar tale, but one that we never tire of hearing. The early death of her father unexpectedly hurtled her to the management of the family estate. Though “born among the vines” as she says, she took the helm at first more from a sense of duty than one of passion or vocation. Eventually, however, that passion and vocation came through the work itself, both in the vines and in the cellar.
Despite her star rising as “the queen of Terodelgo” throughout the 1990’s, by 2000 Elisabetta had lost all personal connection to her work. A path of questioning, experimentation and intuition (including everything from biodynamics, massale selection and the use of amphorae) eventually led her to give up any sense of chasing market trends of the “wine industry” to develop the estate towards the goal of making wines respectful of the soil and the local grapes she wants to honor, and using the techniques she found more interesting, less invasive, and more wine “holistic”.
Elisabetta is still very much a daily presence and “the face” for most of the winery’s fans. But if you’ve been following the estate over the last decade it’s likely you’ve met and interacted with her three children Emilio, Theo and Myrtha. All three are lovely and very much evolving the winery into its next phase of existence.
Stylistic shifts, already in motion when Elisabetta was still in the cellar, have become clearly defined over the last decade (thanks to her three children) including transformation of the winery into a full-fledged polycultural farm. There have been further experiments with amphora as well, including the very limited “Cilindrica” bottlings, aged an extra year in a smaller, cylindrical amphorae.
Going back to Kevin’s original text, he ended it with the following statement about Elisabetta. Again, it’s fitting and affirming that it applies just as pertinently to her children:
“In a lot of ways, she has come far, but we think, that for Elisabetta, like for other great grower/winemakers we are privileged to work with, it is a process, and one that doesn’t necessarily end.”
