Wine: Cantina Rotaliana di Mezzolombardo Teroldego Rotaliano

Ah, Teroldego … a bright and happy wine with a serious side.

Teroldego is a fairly unknown grape outside of north Trentino, a region in northern Italy that is better known for a white wine called Pinot Grigio. Indeed, you’ll have a hard time finding Teroldego in the USA, even in the finest wine shops. However, if you do see it, it is well worth picking up.

Teroldego Rotaliano is the wine you would have if you crossed a Beaujolais Cru with a Chianti Classico – bright, ripe, fruity, and fun, yet with enough structure to be contemplated. If Chianti were less acidic, it would be Teroldego. If Beaujolais Cru had a rustic wall of tannin, it would be Teroldego.

This particular Teroldego — from Cantina Rotaliana di Mezzolombardo — is typical, showing bright, ripe black cherry, distinct sweet earth and tobacco on the nose. In the mouth you get more cherries — black and red — as well as black raspberry, earth, and a touch of spice, all wrapped with ample acidity and medium tannins. A smooth texture carries the wine with polish. The finish leans toward the acidity and tannins, and the fruit mellows to a pleasantly bitter flavor mixed with black fruit. It’s an ideal accompaniment for a wide variety of foods, though you may want to drink it with dishes on the leaner side. For example, any dishes where you substitute ground turkey for beef, gamey fish, vegetarian dishes, or boldly seasoned poultry and pork. At about twelve bucks, it’s a good value.

a-8 t-8 b-9 fc-9 v-7 ~ 91 Points

Importer: Vias Wine

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