Elisabetta Foradori grew up in the tiny 2,000 person village of Mezzolombardo in the Dolomites, about 45 minutes south of the Austrian border. Her father, a cooperative 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 bottling and selling their own wines.
In an era when her region was becoming overrun with the industrial production of cheap Pinot Grigio, Elisabetta defiantly persisted with the same indigenous grape varieties her father and grandfather farmed: the red Teroldego variety, and whites Nosiola and Manzoni Bianco. Today we are offering Elisabetta’s standard bearer Teroldego IGT from the 2012 vintage. Fruit for this cuvée comes from vines that line dry riverbeds at the bottom of the Trento valley. You’ll see in this photo that this is one of the more breathtaking winegrowing areas in Italy. There is also a collection of incredible videos on this page of Elisabetta herself that I highly recommend viewing. Elisabetta is a vocal proponent of organic and biodynamic practices and her fruit is some of the most pristine and healthy one can find in the region. She is a farmer first, and a winemaker second. After harvesting fruit by hand, the wine is fermented in stainless steel and then aged for 15 months in a combination large neutral oak barrels and steel.
The end result is the 2012 Elisabetta Foradori Teroldego IGT which, in the glass, shines dark and bright with an opaque garnet center and crimson rim. Aromas of dark plum, mulberry, pomegranate, blood orange, espresso, charred meat, leather, wild lavender and mountain flowers fill the glass. It is not unlike an Italian expression of Cornas. On the palate the wine is perfectly poised and balanced—it is chewy and mouth-filling, but in no way laden or over rich. If you wish to delve into examining the wine’s many layers and idiosyncrasies, it will certainly fascinate you for hours—or perhaps, like me, you will enjoy it most as a delicious and refreshing beverage alongside a simple meal with friends. Enjoy this wine with grilled and roasted meats, or rich pasta dishes with braised meats. This is also a phenomenal wine for pizza, and it’s no wonder I often see it on wine lists at my favorite upscale Pizzerias in San Francisco and New York. I recommend decanting for 30 minutes and serving in large Bordeaux stems at cellar temperature. As the wine rises in temperature a few degrees to about 65 degrees, the wine will be at its best. Ideally enjoy this wine over the next 3-4 years.
