Followers of this site know well my deep and longstanding affinity for the wines of the iconic Elisabetta Foradori. Her innate talent and fascinating biography have earned her two decades of effusively flattering press and a devoted, multi-generational fan club of sommeliers across the world. Please allow me to be blunt in stating that this offer showcases the finest bottle I have ever tasted from Foradori. It is a work of art - a complete and vivid expression of its variety, vintage, and terroir of origin.
If you love the brilliant poise and high-toned red fruit of Philippe Fourrier’s Gevrey-Chambertins or Foillard’s Morgon “Cote de Py,” then this may very well become your favorite Italian red wine. This bottle shatters preconceptions about Italian wine and is easily one of the most memorable wines we will offer all year.
Elisabetta Foradori’s life is as fascinating and moving as a visit to her
breathtaking vineyards. She grew up in the tiny, 2,000-person village of Mezzolombardo in the Italian Dolomites, about 45 minutes south of the Austrian border. Her father, a grape farmer, passed away when she was in middle school, leaving Elisabetta to tend the vines. In her teens, Elisabetta left high school and enrolled in a university oenology program. By age 19, she was supervising all aspects of harvest and production at Foradori. Over the next decade, Elisabetta transitioned the family farm from bulk wine and grape sales into estate bottling and selling their own wines. In an era when her region was becoming overrun with the industrial production of cheap Pinot Grigio and Merlot, Elisabetta defiantly persisted with the same indigenous grape variety her father and grandfather farmed: Teroldego (said to be a genetic cousin of Syrah, Pinot Noir, and/or Mondeuse). By the mid-1990's, Elisabetta, still in her early 30's, had become the world-renowned, public face of winemaking in the Dolomites.
The late 1990's brought a modern renaissance for Elisabetta and Italian wine as a whole. Despite the avalanche of success and critical praise, by 2000 Elisabetta was feeling increasingly disconnected from her life's work. I felt dead inside. I thought, my god—I don't like these wines, she says. I had a recipe. It was simple. Take the grapes, add the yeast, control the temperature and—if you're not stupid—the wine is done.” The creativity of the young Elisabetta was dead. “When I changed...it came back.” Never one to question her own intuition, Elisabetta discarded the industrial technology, slashed production, then set out to make seriously handmade, natural and honest wine. Unsurprisingly Elisabetta's oenological and philosophical awakening resulted in yet another quantum leap in the depth, quality, and character of her wines. I now strongly believe she is bottling some of the finest and most inspiring wines in not only Italy but the world.
We are showcasing Elisabetta’s truly brilliant Teroldego “Sgarzon.” I want to stress a second time that it is easily the finest bottle of Foradori I have ever tasted. Elisabetta considers “Sgarzon” to be one of two top bottlings in her 20+ wine lineup. Grapes for this wine come from a single, 1-hectare parcel that surrounds the house in which she grew up. The wine is macerated for eight months in Amphorae custom-made for Elisabetta in Spain. Thereafter, it ages in neutral Burgundy barrels for an additional three months before resting in bottle for two years before release. There is no filtering, fining, temperature control or any heavy handed modern technique to distract from this wine’s singing energy and brilliance. It is absolutely spellbinding.
The 2013 Elisabetta Foradori “Sgarzon” is dark ruby at the core with slight magenta tones on the meniscus. The high-toned energy and directness of the fruit in this wine is unbelievable. A perfectly tuned symphony of red currants, wild strawberries, pomegranates, dried goji berry, and Asian plums dance out of the glass. Behind this dense and perfectly composed wall of fruit is something even more fascinating - the vivid aromas of a late Summer hike in the Dolomites. I smell wild flowers, wild strawberries, tomato leaf, wet underbrush, wild lavender and river stones crushing under my feet. Tannins are impossibly elegant, smooth and well integrated; imagine the finest tea or a perfectly aged bottle of Pommard 1er Cru. Please serve this wine at 55 degrees and allow it to warm into the mid-60’s as you enjoy it out of a Burgundy stem. At approximately 1,000 days since its birth, this bottle is bursting into its prime. As with the wines from the two Burgundy producers mentioned in this offer’s first paragraph, this is a bottle that shines in its youth. So, if you are only purchasing one bottle, I might even encourage you to enjoy the wines now versus after extended cellaring. Elisabetta’s “Sgarzon” always has insane structure and acidity and my intuition says that it will easily evolve for another 15-20 years. Still, there is an unbridled youthful energy here that needs to be tasted to be believed. This is a truly special wine.
