Sgarzon Teroldego Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT 2019

The Sgarzon is a cool, tautly built Teroldego from a single parcel in the Campo Rotaliano. The nose is lively and elegant: elderberries and sloes, morello cherries, violet blossom, along with light tobacco, mint, dry undergrowth and a fine note of sweet yeast.

The Sgarzon vineyard (Trentino dialect for vine tendril) lies in the Campo Rotaliano near Mezzolombardo: 2.5 hectares of alluvial soil with a sandy topsoil. The plot is exposed and barely sheltered from the cold winds. The valley floor is wedged between three-thousand-metre peaks, where the Noce river has deposited limestone, porphyry and gneiss over millennia. By day the rock faces reflect the sun, by night cool mountain air flows through the valley.

Pure Teroldego. Elisabetta Foradori brought this nearly forgotten grape variety back through meticulous clonal selection, together with the University of Milan and the San Michele research centre; since 2013 her son Emilio has led the winemaking. The wine spent eight months on the skins in tinajas, Spanish cellar amphorae with a capacity of 420 litres. In spring 2020 it was racked into concrete tanks, where it harmonised over the summer. 12.5% vol., dry.

First comes the sweet yeast again, then red and above all dark fruit. The texture is silky, reminiscent of fired clay. Everything feels clear, pure and juicy, with vibrant acidity and tingling minerality. On the finish the fruit turns darker, stays crisp and fresh, joined by bracing tobacco.

Rice pan with beetroot and walnuts, filet steak with chermoula sauce, roasted tomatoes and roasted potatoes, or lamb cutlets on vegetable couscous.

Demeter-certified: 28 hectares of the estate hold this certification, 80 percent of it planted to Teroldego. Foradori avoids oak, as it would overshadow the Teroldego's character.