Fontanasanta - Manzoni Bianco

Manzoni Bianco (kruising van Riesling & Pinot Bianco) | Fontanasanta wijngaard op 400 meter hoogte | bodem met klei en kalk | 5 ha | vergist met de schillen op beton | rijpt voor 9-12 maanden in acacia hout | zeer intens en rijp | aromatisch | ongefilterd maar wel helder van kleur | enorme fruitbom

Foradori

Elisabetta Foradori de 'grande dame' van de Italiaanse 'vino naturali' leid haar familie wijngoed in de Italiaanse Dolomiti naar grote hoogte. Zij en haar overleden man Rainer Zierock 'redden' de blauwe Tereldogo druif van de ondergang. In haar Granato wijngaard vinden we nog oerklonen van deze spannende blauwe druif. Rond 2013 maken haar zonen Theo en Emilio hun intreden in het bedrijf en in 2018 doed ze zelf een stap terug en mag de nieuwe generatie hun gang gaan. Vanaf de oogst van 2016 proef je de invloed van Emilio als wijnmaker terug!  Na 35 jaar hard werken stort Elisabetta zich op een nieuw project, ze gaat kaas maken van de melk van haar eigen acht koeien. 

Review

Enticing aromas of stone fruit, candied orange peel and toasted pine nut open the bouquet of the 2017 Manzoni Bianco Fontanasanta. Fruit is sourced from the Fontanasanta vineyard located 400 meters above sea level. A small part of the wine (just 10%) is aged in cement vats and amphorae. The rest is aged in acacia wood barrels. This beautiful white wine shows an extremely direct and polished bouquet that reminds me of Riesling. Indeed, Manzoni Bianco is a cross of Riesling and Pinot Bianco. Some 20,000 bottles were made.

The big news at this celebrated estate in Mezzolombardo is that Elisabetta Foradori has handed winemaking responsibilities over to her sons Emilio and Theo Zierock. I tasted these wines with Emilio at the winery. The 2017 vintage was very difficult, with bad weather and hail that destroyed much of the Teroldego harvest. As a result, the 2017 Teroldego Foradori and the 2017 Pinot Grigio Fuoripista were not produced. Because of the reduced harvest yields in 2017, a new wine called Lezèr was born. It is made with Teroldego and sees very short skin maceration times (a mere 48 hours) in order to safeguard the wine's crunchy freshness. The most exciting news from this estate is the launch of two single-vineyard expressions of Teroldego (Sgarzon and Morei) aged in long amphorae called cilindrica. Monika Larner 92/100