Foradori
Foradori
Trentino Alto-Adige, Italy
Foradori
COUNTRY
Italy
REGION
Trentino Alto-Adige
sub Region
Trentino
Appellation
N/A
Elisabetta Foradori, like many of her peers was born into a winemaking family. Unlike most of her peers, however, Elisabetta was thrust to the helm of her family's estate in her early 20s, following the sudden death of her father.
The History
Elisabetta Foradori was born in the village of Mezzolombardo in the Trentino-Alto Adige region close to the Austrian border. Her family lived in a house next to her grandfather’s vineyards, which her father eventually inherited and continued to work with until his death in 1976 when Elisabetta was young. At 20 years old, Elisabetta completed her education in Oenology and was thrust to the helm of the estate to complete her first vintage as winemaker.
Elisabetta followed in her father’s footsteps and continued farming her family’s vineyards conventionally; using synthetic herbicides and pesticides and working with varietals and clones imported into the area. In her own words the vines produced fruit ‘fit for table wine, but [not for] much else’.
In the mid to late 90s Elisabetta began to feel depressed and felt that she’d lost any connection with the land she was born on and with the wines she was making from the vines grown in it. She took this despair as a sign to quit following industry trends and to start growing and making wine with her intuition and all that she’d learned about her region after growing up there. She quickly set to work. In 2002 Elisabetta started her conversion to Biodynamics and the estate received Demeter certification in 2009.
The Philosophy
It is their dedication to the region of Trentino that drives every decision made at Agricola Foradori. Elisabetta has always endeavoured to grow what makes sense and what is at home in the region and to listen to her land for clues as to what it needs and wants along the way. A large part of Elisabetta’s legacy is her work reviving the Teroldego grape – a red variety indigenous to the area. Elisabetta’s push for this varietal to flourish led to the propagation of many new clones of the varietal, thus ensuring its survival and journey to producing striking wines of quality.
As of 2012 Elisabetta’s son Emilio began working with her and was eventually joined by siblings Theo and Myrtha. Though Elisabetta is still very present in the winery’s day to day operations, it is now Emilio who oversees the vineyards and who makes the wines of Azienda Agricola Foradori. Emilio, Theo and Myrtha have continued on with the winery’s progression towards making natural wine, incorporating different winemaking techniques - like the use of some whole cluster fermentations, extended skin-contact and clay amphora – to shift the winery towards the brighter, less extracted style of wines that they make today.
The estate grows Teroldego and Nosiola, both grapes native to the region as well as Pinot Grigio and Manzoni Bianco (a Riesling/Pinot Blanc crossing).
The wines of Azienda Agricola Foradori are fermented naturally with indigenous yeasts. Emilio favours the use of large-format wood and neutral vessels like stainless steel and clay amphora to mimize their impact on the wine. Wines are allowed to finish malolactic fermentation completely and naturally (a process which can take months). The wines do not undergo any fining or filtration and sulphites are used very sparingly.
In 2019 Elisabetta also introduced livestock into the eco-system of the estate. Her herd of cattle now in addition to fertilizing and naturally tilling the vineyard provide the milk used to make the estate’s line of cheeses.
WINES FROM THIS PRODUCER
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