What grows together goes together. This is a famous adage which helps when thinking about wine pairing: choose dishes from the region where the wine grows. But how often do you get to pair a cheese made from cows that graze near the vines and that contribute to the vine’s health and welfare as determined by Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic principles??

Following the Wine Media Conference on Lake Garda in Lombardy, fellow LA Wine Writer Melanie Webber and I rented a tiny manual transmission car, loaded up luggage and wine, and I drove us east and north a few hours to Trento at the base of the Dolomites region of the Italian Alps.  There we stayed in a sweet river side Air B nB near the center of town and this served as a base for several forays to area wineries where Melanie had set up appointments for us including with the winemaker Emilio at Foradori.

.

Foradori is famous for going back to older ways of growing grapes and making wine: they resurrected the almost extinct Teroldego grape that once was common in the region, they early on moved away from chemical farming to  biodynamic farming, and they reclaimed the use of clay vessels or amphora. They are featured in the Slow Wine Guide

Fellow Wine Media Conference attendee Austin Beeman visited Foradori before the conference and he’s working on a longer video about his visit but for now, he’s released this clip to give you a taste of Foradori:

With this month’s Italian Wine Food Travel focus on Italian Wine and Cheese with host Deanna of Wineivore it seemed the ideal time to focus on Foradori and share part of their story along with the cheese; more of their story on another occasion soon!

Biodynamic Wine from Agricola Foradori 

• 2021 Foradori “Lezer” Rosso, Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT
• 2020 Foradori “Morei” Teroldego, Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT
• 180k bottles produced on 30 hectares, many of them Teroldego 

Menu

• Italian Cheeseboard:
  Foradori Tyrollean grey cow aged cheese (purchased at Foradori, only available at the winery), La Tur, Wine Soaked Tuscan, Ricotta Salata, Italian Blue Cheese with passito grapes (purchased in the Milan airport duty free store), pate, salami
• Caprese Salad with burrata and heirloom farmer’s market tomato 
• Mushroom Risotto with Tallegio cheese 
• Sauted Brocoli 
• Kay’s Apple and Pomegranate Hand Pies

Tasters

• Importer Sheila Donohue
• Sue Hill
• Gwendolyn Alley

2021 Foradori “Lezer” Rosso, Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT

ABV:  
SRP: $25
Grapes:  68% Teralgo, 32% Schiava, Lagrine, Marzamino,  
Importer: Louis Dressner

sample for my review 

Narrative: this wine came about due to a happy accident.

Appearance: Translucent, very pure, candy apple red, cranberry, beautifully bright.

Aroma: Spicy, herbal, cherry, fresh, fruity, clay, limestone. 

Palate: Fresh, light, clean, beautiful acidity, fresh cherry on the palate, rich ripe cherry finish. Acidity, low tannins, bright fruit makes it great slightly chilled on a summer day. 

Pairing: The LaTur on the cheese plate brings out cranberry fruit in the wine. Beautiful with the Toscano wine soaked cheese as it enhances the cherry fruit in the wine. Lovely with the salami making us think of how well this wine would be a for special picnic or with pizza.

The wine loved dancing with the spices in the pate. The bold earthy Foradori cheese is so interesting and perfect with the wine.

Shelia prefered the pate to the salami because of the spices; the creaminess of the cheese tames the acidity of the wine bringing forward a lovely umami. With sautéed broccoli, it worked well making us think this would be a great wine for a vegetarian meal. 

2020 Foradori “Morei” Teroldego, Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT

ABV:  
SRP: $50
Grapes:  Teroldego
Importer: Louis Dressner 

sample for my review 

Narrative: These two wines have so much texture!

Appearance: Cloudy, ruby, purple, plum, unfined and unfiltered, bright fuchsia rim. 

Aroma: Florals of carnations and violets, fresh fruit of raspberry, plum, plus baking spices and not heavy or heady.

Palate: Delicious and satisfying. Fruit and bright acidity, lively and light, fruit forward with a complexity of florals and complexity of fruit rather than general florals and fruit. It changes significantly as it travels across the palate. 

Pairing: I wasn’t enthused about this wine with the pate at first, but when I had a bit of Toscano cheese before the pate it was a game changer enhancing both the cheese and the wine, and the LaTur did not disappoint with the wine. The rich creamy Toscano goes well with this Terlodego. Few wines come to mind that that could stand up to the bold rind of the Foradori cheese, but the earthy quality of the cheese is in perfect harmony with the bold cheese. The cheese makes the wine so sweet and fruity. The pasito soaked blue cheese was also absolutely perfect with the wine. We kept going back for more, a very surprising combination. The wine was perfect with the meal. Everything married so nicely together. This wine is so flexible, it worked well with the bold arugula and the creamy richness of the burrata. The richness and earthiness of the risotto is also wonderful with the wine. It fills all of the empty spaces with the food and wine. 

 

Check out these articles about Italian wine and cheese:

• Camilla is preparing “A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige” at Culinary Cam
• Jennifer is having “Caprese Paired with Prosecco” at Vino Travels
• Robin is tasting “Piave, Grana Padano and the wines of Lombardia” at Crushed Grape Chronicles
• Deanna is drinking “Abbondanza Montelpuciano d’Abruzzo + A Simple Snack” at Wineivore