Foradori

Our awareness of nature’s rhythms and cycles has been perfected through observation over time: each season opens new horizons, every day we learn and understand a little more.

We have learned to pay attention, to grasp the subtle differences existing in nature and to preserve the true character of the grape in the expression of its land of origin.

Our daily farming gestures are elevated to creative impulses: it is our duty and privilege to wake up every morning and to be free to work according to the message that the earth conveys to us in that moment.

We work surrounded by mountains, cultivating Teroldego and Pinot Grigio on alluvial soils of the Campo Rotaliano, Nosiola and Manzoni Bianco on the calcareous-clayey hills of Cognola.

We have been certified by ICEA and Demeter since 2009, although the estate has been farming biodynamically since 2002.

At the helm today, a fourth generation of winemakers run Foradori’s activities. It was Elisabetta Foradori and Rainer Zierock’s work that led to the salvage and regeneration of the Teroldego grape variety through their cultivation of the grape’s original genetic family. Today their children Emilio, Theo and Myrtha Zierock continue in their footsteps to run the winery.

Philosopher-winemaker Emilio manages wine production, while political journalist Theo oversees the winery’s business and commerce from his home in Naples. Market gardener Myrtha takes care of Foradori’s farming and gradual expansion.

Together the three of them oversee the smooth running of the winery, supported constantly by their mother Elisabetta.

Though Rainer sadly passed away in February 2009, his influence remains fundamental and today his ideas still continue to steer the development of the winery.

How do we like to define ourselves?
Guardians of the land.

We harvest the grapes from vineyards covering 28 hectares – 70% of Teroldego, 20% of Manzoni Bianco, 5% of Nosiola and 5% of Pinot Grigio – to produce an average of 160,000 bottles per year: 50,000 of Foradori, 20,000 of Granato, 25,000 of Fontanasanta Manzoni Bianco, 10,000 of Fontanasanta Nosiola, 10,000 of Fuoripista Pinot Grigio and 12,000 for each of vineyards of Sgarzon and Morei and 25,000 bottles of Lezèr.

On the border between Trentino and Alto Adige, Campo Rotaliano is a flood plain formed by the confluence of the Noce River into the Adige River: a four hundred hectare triangle surrounded by massive cliffs. 
The territory of the Mezo (from medium, plain) has always been a land of transit for goods and travelers. In fact, in Roman times it already held a key role as a hub for trade routes. It was also a cultural crossroad where profoundly different cultures and people met, alive with the vibrant richness that can only arise in the presence of a profusion of exchanges and comparisons.

The Noce River has fashioned the plain’s geography, conveying downstream rocks from the many mountains it touches and dividing the plane naturally into two distinct areas, each with its own castle and villages: two ‘ville’, which have now become the present-day Mezzolombardo and Mezzocorona, governed alternatively by the Bishopric of Trento and the Counts of Tyrol.

We are free farmers, united in our respect for the earth and its abundance.

We work with passion to grow plants that maintain their natural expressivity.

We transform the fruits of our earth for the wellbeing of those who reap its goodness.

Our ultimate goal is to create harmony between man and nature.

In the winery, fermentation takes place in different containers in which the wine is also aged.

The acacia and oak wood of the casks and open-top tanks is alive: leaving traces of itself, it takes part in the transformation process and guides the wine through time, supporting it.

The clay of the tinajas gives full freedom of expression to the grapes and gives the wine the chance to reconnect to the earth. These containers are strongly energetic: their broad and elongated shape welcomes and embraces; the clay from which they are made has the property to link the cosmic to the terrestrial forces.

The cement containers help with their thermal inertia; even stainless steel has a role in our winery and remains as a witness to our past.

We use indigenous yeasts and have no temperature control during fermentation.
We do not add sulphites until after the first racking, which doesn’t usually take place until 6-8 months after drawing from the skins. In this way, the bottled wine will contain at most 30mg/L sulphur dioxide. All our wines are bottled without filtration.

We have been looking for some time now for the ideal location to develop a farming project, something we eventually found on the foothills of Monte Baldo in the south of the Trentino region. Back in 2018 we started out with a piece of land and then bit by bit we began cultivating others in Cazzano and Crosano.

Slowly but surely we will try to understand more about these places with the aim to begin a project, which aside from wine, will also focus on breeding Tyrolean Grey cattle for milk production and vegetable farming.