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I recently hosted a dinner of Italian food paired with 7 Italian wines and it wasn’t the expensive Barolo or Super Tuscan that was my favorite! Teroldego is ancient Italian variety grown primarily in Trentino region (northern Italy) and is best when produced by Elisabetta Foradori, one of the most influential female winemakers in the world.
Teroldego grows in the sunny foothills of Dolomite mountains and for years the grapes were used by co-ops to make bland red wine. Foradori was instrumental in transforming Teroldego wines to their modern style. Elisabetta was a teenager when her father suddenly died but her mother kept the family winery until she finished enology school, and she managed the winery at age 19. Over time she broadened her viticulture and winemaking skills and today, she is world-renowned as a proponent of bio-dynamic farming and less invasive, more “holistic” wines. She embraced the use of clay vessels (called amphora) for aging that she learned from Guisto Occipinti in Sicily. In her high-altitude vineyards she adopted the methods of Rudolph Steiner, the father of bio-dynamic farming, and completed the arduous process of bio-dynamic certification for her vineyards.
FORADORI Teroldego 2016 $24
Trentino, Italy
Deep-colored red wine brimming with rustic flavors of wild blackberries, fruit harvested by hand, destemmed with some whole clusters, fermented with indigenous yeasts and with no sulfur (until bottling). Aging takes place in cement tanks (amphorae).
Cheers, Bob the Wineguy
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Bob the WineGuy 
Elisabetta Foradori sounds ambitious as well as brilliant. I will have to try the Foradori Teroldego simply on the fact that she applied Steiner’s bio-dynamic farming methods. There is certainly a reason that the “ways of the old” survive, and traditional methods in farming will be the future.
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John, there is growing awareness that organic and bio-dynamic farming improves the quality of fruit which translates into better wines.
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i never heard of ‘bio-dynamic’ farming. do you know of any california producer that embraces that type of farming? are the use of pesticides or fertilizers prohibited with this label? Wood casts are natural and wood is renewable, yet this producer uses clay vessels. Would wood be allowed to be used if the term bio-dynamic is given to the producer?
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Gordon, Benziger and DeLoach are the most well-known producers in Sonoma who have achieved biodynamic certification from Demeter Association. There are a few others certified biodynamic but more are certified organic because organic requirements are less onerous.
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Bob it was a wonderful and informative
Evening
Looking forward to doing it again
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Yeah, good vibes for the evening – we will do it again!
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Bob, thank you for such a great, informative evening at Forte. The venue was perfect, the food was excellent and the wines you choose were divine! The pairing was spot-on. We have all enjoyed a big dollar Barolo at some time in our past, but you have introduced me to yet another smart choice in wine – Foradori. What a talented wine producer. I look forward to another event hosted by the Master – “Bob the Wine Guy” !
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Blake, glad you enjoyed your first BTWG event – hopefully many more to follow…
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