Foradori Granato Teroldego 2021

Elisabetta Foradori inherited her father's estate in 1985 at the age of nineteen. At the time, Teroldego was either treated as a mass-production grape or uprooted in favor of Pinot Grigio and Merlot. She replanted her vineyards with massal selections from her old Pergola vines, and in the 2000s, she transitioned to biodynamic viticulture, completely shifting her style from concentration to texture and elegance. Today, she is considered one of the most important biodynamic producers in northern Italy.

'Granato', first produced in 1986, is the estate's flagship wine, sourced from the three oldest plots planted with Pergola between 1938 and 1956, covering just over 4 hectares, on the most gravelly alluvial dolomitic limestone soils of the Campo Rotaliano plateau. These vines also served as the source material for the entire estate's replanting. After partial destemming, the wine ferments with indigenous yeasts in open wooden vats without sulfur dioxide, undergoing maceration for several weeks using the 'cappello sommerso' (submerged cap) method instead of pump-overs. It is then aged in large neutral oak barrels and bottled without fining or filtration. New barriques have not been used since the 2000 vintage.

In the glass, a deep, almost opaque garnet with purple hues fills the senses. On the nose, pomegranate, wild blackberry, black cherry, and dried plum open first, followed by violet, hibiscus, incense, black pepper, and a subtle bitterness of amaro. On the palate, a silky texture spreads broadly, yet within it, fine tannins and a precise acid backbone stand clear, offering both the coolness of the Alps and Mediterranean fruitiness simultaneously. The finish lingers with gravelly mineral notes, cocoa, and licorice. This wine truly reveals itself after aging in bottle for more than five years.