2021 FORADORI TEROLDEGO VIGNETI DELLE DOLOMITI

2021 FORADORI TEROLDAGO VIGNETI DELLE DOLOMITI, TRENTINO ALTO-ADIGE, ITALY. 100% Teroldego. Organic and Biodynamic.

It is impossible to mention "Teroldego" and "great" today in the same sentence without mentioning Elisabetta Foradori. Teroldego is a red wine grape found primarily in the Trentino region of northern Italy. It is known for producing deeply colored red wines with intense fruit...but had fallen victim to industrial planting and production in the mid 1900s. When Elisabetta inherited her father's estate in 1985, she made it her life's work to restore Teroldego to greatness, bringing back genetic diversity and healing the soils through organic and Biodynamic viticultural practices. In doing so, she is largely credited with sparking the movement in Italy towards natural farming and winemaking, and is regarded today as one of the matriarchs of the global natural wine movement. In her capable hands, Teroldego comes alive, expressing a wide spectrum of aromas and flavors balanced by naturally high acidity -- an essential key component the industrial Teroldegos of the past were lacking. Brilliant red and black fruits intermix with earth and spice for a wine that begs for a hearty meal.

About: Elisabetta Foradori took over her family’s estate in 1985, after he father unexpectedly passed away. At the time, wine production in Trentino had become largely industrial. The dominant clone of the main red grape, Teroldego, was being selected for quantity over quality, resulting in mediocre wines. Elisabetta sought to change all that, studying the history of the grape and restoring genetic diversity in order to yield deeper, purer and more complex expressions of the grape. To say she has succeeeded is an understatement.

Her success has been twofold: Elisabetta is regarded today as one of Italy's most important winemakers as well as a leader in the pioneer in the global natural wine movement. The shift to natrual winemaking and soil-focused viticulture came about as a result of her determination to revitalize Teroldego and the vineyards of Trentino. To quote: “A whole variety had to be rebuilt, viticultural practices had to be brought back to quality levels, the soil had to be enriched with life, the plants brought to an equilibrium,” she says, “I myself have changed with the variety, and I find myself to be a different person, watching and listening to the land and to nature in a different way.”