Cipriano "Teroldigo Rotaliano" DOC
The Fedrizzi family vinifies their wines in a very traditional manner. For the past 50 years, right in the center of their local town, Mezzolombardo, they’ve grown low yields of Teroldigo, trained on Double Pergola vines. The wine is fermented in cement tanks using all indigenous yeasts, and stored in cement for an additional 6 months. Production is less than 3,000 cases.
The Teroldigo grape is grown in the Adige Valley, just North of Trento, on the river beds of the ancient Noce River. Here the waters have retreated and left great quantities of stony deposits coming from the Dolomites. When yield is restricted on these pebbly soils, Teroldigo can offer lush spicy red fruit, black cherry flavors, and aromas of tar, smoke, and herbs as well as bitter almond notes. It is also marked by a particularly fine acidic balance and complexity.
Teroldigo covers the Campo Rotaliano, a former floodplain around the villages of Mezzolombardo and Mezzocorona. The Adige and its tributaries have created an alluvial fan across the valley floor, strewn with an easy-draining mix of gravel and sand. The river also acts as a wind tunnel for warm air off Lake Garda, which works its way up the valley each day and often collects in the Bolzano basin. These conditions make Bolzano one of the hottest regional capitals in Italy throughout the summer. In fact, Trentino-Alto Adige has always produced more red wine than white. To an Austrian, this place is the Riviera.
