Foradori Teroldego 2002
Trentino/Alto-Adige, Italy ($20)
Some of the sexiest grapes in the world are those that stay under the radar while retaining their expression of place. These are wines, for whatever reason, never gain popularity despite their complexity, affordability or downright sexiness. This comes easy to indigenous Italian grapes. I consider grapes like Lagrein, Refosco and Negroamaro to still be under the radar.
These days reading blogs and using search engines can tell you all you need to know about the grapes us wine geeks get all giddy for, which is in fact how I found out about the Italian grape of Teroldego. Reading a NYCR story about Red Tail Ridge Winery clued me in to another Northern Italian grape that needed tasting.
The grape is primarily grown in the Northeast Trentino/Alto-Adige area of Italy, which is considered cool climate for the country. In flavor, it’s been compared to Syrah and Zinfandel although could never be mistaken for either due to its high acidity. What contributes to the grapes “speak easy” aura is that its sole appellation of origin is Teroldigo Rotaliano D.O.C., a region that isn’t on the tongue of many wine drinkers.
I almost stayed away from this bottle of Foradori Teroldego Rotaliano 2002 because of what I know of Italian vintages. The 2002 vintage was bad for most of the country and every chart I looked at previously basically said “too late buddy.” Considering I don’t see this grape often I still through down the $20 to try a new grape.
With aromas of dried cherry, plum and tar it had a fun nose, and although pleasant, there was something about it that went into a stewed fruit aroma that makes me think it had worn out its welcome in the bottle. The color and extraction took me by surprise considering it’s a cool climate variety and the fine tannins added to the rustic feel.
Even though I wouldn’t recommend this particular bottle and vintage to a friend because of its age, I bet this wine in a recent vintage would be an eye opening experience for most of my geek friends. It’ll be exciting to see how it does in New York State if wineries are crazy enough to try it and dare I say that Toreldego on a tasting menu looks much sexier then Merlot or Lemberger.
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