The 2008 Granato comes across as tightly coiled and inward today. This isn’t a flashy or extroverted Granato, rather it is a wine built on a serious core of intense minerality. With time in the glass hints of tobacco, spices and licorice emerge to add complexity to the fruit, but the 2008 remains young and in need of bottle age. This is a fascinating wine from Elisabetta Foradori. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2023. I have included notes on these new releases from Elisabetta Foradori, even though she is located in Trentino rather than Alto Adige. Foradori continues to push the boundaries when it comes to Teroldego, the main indigenous red variety in Trentino. Biodynamic farming and a non-interventionalist approach to winemaking are at the core of Foradori’s philosophy. Over the last few years Foradori has begun using terra cotta amphoras for a number of her wines. Foradori has also re-introduced two single-vineyard Teroldegos – Sgarzon and Morei – she first made from 1988 to 1999. Both wines emerge from pergola-trained vineyards and are aged in terra cotta amphoras. Readers should do whatever they can to taste these magnificent wines.Importer: Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY; tel. (914) 244-0404

For a peek back in time, we opened a bottle of the 2008 Granato during my recent visit to the Foradori winery. Since its release, this wine has remained firmly in one place. Emilio Fordadori calls it "a little rock" that won't move. The 2008 vintage is characterized by an ability for extremely slow and careful bottle evolution, meaning this wine will hold steady in the cellar for many more years to come. This was a long growing season, and the vintage conditions were slightly cooler than average. Granato is made with fruit from old vines, planted with the overhead pergola system.