Foradori - Morei Teroldego 2015
We end the the small Italy round where we started and drink a bottle of Morei Teroldego 2015 from the winery Foradori from Trentino.
Actually, as for the other thematically bundled wines, only four weeks of Italy were planned. But since we already had two (yes ok, maybe not quite two, but with Ampeleia at least close to two) wines from Foradori and with a Teroldego from Foradori as start of the whole series at all, it was just too tempting to add another bottle of Teroldego from Foradori. So to speak, to close the circle. This time, however, the grapes are grown in a warmer location, also between the two rivers Noce and Adige, and the wine has a few more years in the bottle behind it. The Morei 2015 ferments for eight months in amphora and is then aged for another three months in cement. As with both other wines, the vineyards are farmed biodynamically.
You can smell the warmth of the site directly. This has real power on the nose with a wild mix of cherry and earth. It’s intense and really beautiful. There are herbs, there is a bit of something reminiscent of Amaro and despite the three years more on the hump, there is actually nothing in the nose that would announce these additional three years. For such a red wine, three years are then just no time at all I guess. But it indeed does have more of bascially everything. There is more fruit and more spice. Where fruit and spice are much too banal for what actually arrives at the smell. There is a lot of complexity and tension behind it. The Sgarzon has already shown that Teroldego has acidity, and that is very similar here. The wine is super juicy and very fresh despite all the intensity. I like this just a bit more, but can imagine that this may depend very much on the personal form of the day.
A day later, the wine has even more fruit. There’s a bit of black tea, some marzipan and a bit of licorice. Meanwhile, more Amaretto than Amaro. And despite all the density, fruit and also the sweetness that definitely comes along, although this is probably analytically very dry, the wine always keeps the freshness. On the tongue even more than in the nose. The serious acidity has enormous traction. This is simultaneously juicy in the sense of salivating as well as juicy in the sense of fruit juice. The acidity somehow does to the wine what a good shot of orange juice does to punch. Tannin is there, but so soft that you have to look for them carefully. Whether that was really the case from the start or is due to the years in the bottle, I can’t say, of course. This is really warmer than the Sgarzon, perhaps a bit more chubby, but never marmelade or unpleasant due to the very similar acidity. Very nice it is indeed.
And yet I have to grumble. First, about the wax capsule. Wax is pretty and always looks that little bit classier than without it, but here the waiter’s knife once again had to fight over the measures. I usually just twist through the wax and then pull that out. If the seal is brittle, then that’s not a problem either and at worst you have to sweep up a few wax crumbs. But if the capsule clings to the bottle like tough rubber and won’t give up the cork, then it doesn’t really work. And the bottle in general. Why does it have to be so heavy? It’s not ideal for the CO2 balance, but it’s also annoying in the fridge and compared to other bottles it always feels full, which makes it much more difficult to estimate the remaining amount by lifting it. Enough whining though, because the content, it’s damn good.