by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

We tasted last night (5/21/07) w/ our SantaFe group some Teroldegos:

1. IlPodere dell'Olivos CentralCoast Teroldego ("Hommage to Elisabetta"; 13.5%) 2000: Very dark color; strong plummy/black cherry/blackberry perfumed light toasty/oak slight earthy complex nose; tart bit hard/lean some tannic/rough strong black cherry/ plummy ripe fruit light oak flavor; long plummy/black cherry/bitter cherry slight toasty/oak finish w/ some tannins; still needs several yrs; great price at $13.00
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2. Nonno Zito Vincenza-Jennie CentralCoast Teroldego (13.5%) AmbullneoVnyds/SantaMaria Winemaker: Jim Clendenen 2003: Very dark color; very strong toasty/new/Fr.oak slight volatile/ perfumey some plummy nose; tart bit tannic/bitter rather cherry/black cherry/plummy strong taosty/ Fr.oak flavor; long very toasty/newFr.oak/charred plummy/black cherry/pomengranate finish w/ fair tannins; needs age; lots of deep/strong fruit but pretty heavy new oak; all-in-all I liked this wine but not as much as the IlPodere. Back-wrenching/hernia-inducing/forklift-requiring ultra-heavy/
   Swartzeneggerian SQN btl. Fairly priced at $35.00.
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3. MezzaCorona DOC: TeroldegoRotaliano Reserve (13%; www.MezzaCorona.It) 2001: Very dark color; deep black cherry/plummy/chocolaty bit licorice/earthy/walnutty slight tarry big fruit nose; big/rich black cherry/licorice/plummy bit tarry/pungent big fruit some cassis flavor; med.long big/black cherry/plummy bit tarry finish w/ light tannins;lots of deep fruit w/ a slight bitter/tannic bite. Great price at $15.00
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   3a. MezzaCorona DOC: TeroldegoRotaliano Reserve (12.5%) 1997: Very dark color w/ little browning. strong perfumed/licorice/black cherry slight earthy fairly complex nose; some tannic/ astringent/bit dried out licorice/black cherry/plummy some tarry/pungent flavor; med.long black cherry/plummy slight tannic/bitter/dried out some complex finish; drying out a bit but still in good shape. There was a little funk in the nose at first and some proclaimed it corked, but I was not getting corked, even the next day when I tried it. Howard & Rhoda's archive. $14.00
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4. Bolognani Armito Teroldego IGT Vigneti delle Dolomiti (13%) 2001: Dark color; some dusty/ earthy slight perfumed/fragrant some black cherry/plummy bit perfumed talc rather spicy/ tarry/ pungent interesting nose; tannic/rough dusty/earthy black cherry/ plummy bit pungent/tarry flavor; long black cherry/plummy some earthy/dusty bit tarry finish w/ some tannins; a rather earthy/rough/ rustic red w/good fruit; quite interesting red. Good value at $15.00
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5. Zeni DOC: TeroldegaRotaliano VignetoLealbere (13.5%) 2004: Very dark color; strong black cherry/spicy slight Italianate smokey/ozone/mineral juicy nose; tart bit lean/hard bright cherry some Zin/blackberry flavor; med.long light tannins rather black cherry/smokey/licorice finish; very attractive Teroldego $24.00
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6. Marco Donati Bagolari DOC TeroldegoRotaliano (13%) MezzaCorona/Trentino 2003: Dark
   color; some dusty/earthy pungent/black cherry slight tarry/floral very interesting nose; tart bit rough/rustic/tannic pungent/black cherry slight tarry flavor; long some tannic ripe/black cherry light tarry/pungent dusty finish; very interesting wine. $20.00
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7. Cavit Bottega Vinaia DOC: TeroldegoRotaliano (13%) 2002: Dark color; slight ozone/ minerally deep black cherry/pomengranate charred/pungent/oak nose; softer plummy/black cherry/ pomengranate/ripe light charred/pungent/smokey/oak flavor; light tannic some earthy/ rough black cherry/pomengranate some charred/toasty/oak finish; needs a yr or two; interesting wine. $24.00
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8. Foradori Teroldego Rotaliano (12.5%) Mezzolombardo 2002: Very dark color; deep plummy/
   black cherry/pomengranate very minerally slight pungent/tarry complex nose; tart slight bitter/tannic dusty/earthy/minerally black cherry/plummy complex flavor; very long fairly tannic black cherry/ pomengranate earthy/minerally complex finish; needs some 2-6 yrs; wonderful Teroldego w/ lots of character. Great price at $19.00
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9. Foradori Granato IGT Delle DolomitiRosso (13%; 100% 30 yr old Teroldego) 2002: Black
   color; beautiful floral/lilacs/perfumey very strong black cherry/plummy/pomengranate pungent/licorice/tarry/spicy very complex nose; tart bright cherry/black cherry/ pomengranate/ plummy floral/lilacs/spicy some minerally/earthy complex beautiful flavor; very long/lingering bit tannic/hard very floral/perfumed black cherry/plummy light mineral/earthy finish w/ some tannins; needs another 2-6 yrs; terrific complex Teroldego w/ wonderful aromatics. Fairly priced at $54.50.
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10. Cantina Rotaliana di Mezzolombardo Clesurae Teroldego Rotaliano (13.5%) 2000: Very
    dark slight bricking color; bit earthy/dusty/minerally rather plummy/black cherry slight toasty/Fr.oak lovely/complex flavor; very long/lingering smooth/polished strong black cherry/plummy some toasty/oak finish w/ modest tannins; more balanced and polished & svelte than the Granato; can still use a few yrs; a wonderful/complex Teroledgo. Bit pricey at $91.50
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11. Poderi dal Nespoli Teluccio Vino de Uve Stramature (Sangiovese; 15.5%) 2004: Black color; very ripe grapey/late harvesty spicy/plummy/blackberry/boysenberry complex nose; off-dry lovely/ complex/very spicy plummy/grapey/boysenberry/pomengranate/jammy flavor; very long/lingering plummy/boysenberry/pomengranate very spicy complex finish w/ some tannins; probably/might age well but no experience; reminds me a lot of a PasoRobles late harvest Syrah but w/ more structure;
    terrific/interesting cheese wine. $38.00/500 ml
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12. Tenuta Uccellina Regio Rosso Passito (13%; Extra ripe Sangiovese grapes) NV: Very dark color; very intense late harvesty/raisened/pruney some alcoholic/hot very grapey/ intense fruit nose; fairly sweet very ripe/late harvesty chocolaty/plummy/raisened bit hot/alcoholic flavor; long very grapey/ pruney/raisened chocolaty/licorice finish w/ some tannins; much more overripe/raisened/late harvesty in character. $27.00/500ml
    

1. Teroldego: I've had probably a dozen or so of these wines over the yrs. Have, in general, liked them as good/tasty/rustic Italian reds. When I saw the Clesurae at Gomer's/MidTown at this stupid price, I was a bit taken aback. $90 for a friggin' Teroledego..how the heck could that be?? Awwright...we'll just find out. So I assembled as many more as I could find to make up probably the biggest Teroldego tasting ever in the USofA. It was a worthwhile experience. I, and the rest of the group I think, were pretty impressed w/what Teroldego can produce. I was getting a lot of black cherry/plummy/pomengranate charecter in the wines w/ a bit of a hard/tannic bite. But quite a lot of fruit and none had any of that nastiness you find in so many Italian wines. It reminded me some of Dolcetto w/o the acid/tannic/hard bite; it reminded me some of Lagrein w/o the earthy/dusty/rough character. It's a variety they ought to be planting more of in Calif, where they would undoubtedly make the best Teroldego in the world.

The grape is apparently primarily planted to the Pergola Trentina, a pergola system that trains the vines onto a canopy about head high to maximize photosynthesis, whilst allowing the grapes to hang below. I'm not sure if this differs from the pergolas used in the AltoAdige or not. I've only seen one pergola planting, that was the Caymus Pinot planting out west of Sebastapol on the extreme Sonoma Coast. It looks very labor intensive and probably a bitch to net for birds, if not impossible.
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2. Sangiovese: These were two wines Roberto had recommended to me. I had never seen Passito Sangiovese before, so just had to try them. These are Romagna wines I gather. The Uccellina were dried on trays for 60 days, a la Recioto. Presume the Nespoli was done the same way. I much preferred the Nespoli to the Uccellina; it was less overripe/pruney/raisened and had a very interesting spiciness to it; overall just much more interesting. But I found both of these much
more interesting than most Amarones/Reciotos that I've had; less of that hard/bitter character.
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3. Clearly Foradori is the flagship wnry for Teroledego. But I was also highly impressed by the Clesurae, though thought it too pricey. The Granato was easily my favorite of the bunch.

TomHill