3L Granato - Teroldego (10)

Teroldego | single vineyard | plateau van 4 ha pergola getraind | aangeplant tussen 1938 & 1956 | Granato vernoemd naar een granaatappel | de meeste traditionele stijl Teroldego op het wijngoed | rijpt voor 18 maanden op oude eikenhouten vaten | aan de jonge kant, op dronk 2020 - 2040 | | super intens rood fruit | wilde kruiden | fijne tannine | diepe zuren | velvet | decanteren aanbevolen - fles is in 2022 vrijgegeven uit de kelder van Foradori in een luxe houten kist. 

Foradori

Elisabetta Foradori de 'grande dame' van de Italiaanse 'vino naturali' leid haar familie wijngoed in de Italiaanse Dolomiti naar grote hoogte. Zij en haar overleden man Rainer Zierock 'redden' de blauwe Tereldogo druif van de ondergang. In haar Granato wijngaard vinden we nog oerklonen van deze spannende blauwe druif. Rond 2013 maken haar zonen Theo en Emilio hun intreden in het bedrijf en in 2018 doed ze zelf een stap terug en mag de nieuwe generatie hun gang gaan. Vanaf de oogst van 2016 proef je de invloed van Emilio als wijnmaker terug!  Na 35 jaar hard werken stort Elisabetta zich op een nieuw project, ze gaat kaas maken van de melk van haar eigen acht koeien. 

Review

The 2016 Granato has a streamlined elegance that I love. This pure expression of Teroldego sees partial stem inclusion during fermentation (for a third of the total mass). Fermentation occurs in oak with skin contact that lasts 20 days. After that, it goes into oak for 15 months. The stem inclusion clearly adds more structure and a clean tannin bite that is otherwise hard to achieve with this grape. The Foradori family has been experimenting with stems since 2013, but the first vintage released with this technique was 2015. The goal is to extract the firmness, without any bitterness. Grapes were harvested on the late side at the end of September and beginning of October in 2016 (a vintage that saw cool temperatures and rain in advance of harvest). However, the wine's dark blackberry and blueberry characteristics remain enticing and exuberant. Give this wine a few more years of bottle aging to put on more weight. Some 20,000 bottles were made.

The big news at this celebrated estate in Mezzolombardo is that Elisabetta Foradori has handed winemaking responsibilities over to her sons Emilio and Theo Zierock. I tasted these wines with Emilio at the winery. The 2017 vintage was very difficult, with bad weather and hail that destroyed much of the Teroldego harvest. As a result, the 2017 Teroldego Foradori and the 2017 Pinot Grigio Fuoripista were not produced. Because of the reduced harvest yields in 2017, a new wine called Lezèr was born. It is made with Teroldego and sees very short skin maceration times (a mere 48 hours) in order to safeguard the wine's crunchy freshness. The most exciting news from this estate is the launch of two single-vineyard expressions of Teroldego (Sgarzon and Morei) aged in long amphorae called cilindrica. Monica Larner 93/100