Zeni 'Schwarzhof Ternet' Teroldego

Vigneti delle Dolomiti Teroldego IGT
Grape: Teroldego

Liquorice and clove, strawberry and black cherry aromas, porcini and espresso, deep ripe damson and morello. A big wine that has a lovely loose feel, I don’t know how this could be better. 14%

Roberto Zeni producer page

This is not Teroldego Rotaliano DOC as the vines are on the hills above the Rotaliano valley.

Ternet is made from a grape called Teroldego, a variety that rarely leaves the Trento, where it is perfectly adapted to the mountain climate. The most famous (and usually the best) Teroldego is grown on the Rotaliano plain where it is protected by DOC status. Ternet is grown on a steep, southwest facing vineyard high above the valley floor at 450m. It is not bound by DOC regulations and is a genuine exploration into the potential of Teroldego, it is worlds apart from Zeni’s other wines, which is why even the name is different.
The vineyard was planted in 2004 using a Guyot training system that runs up and down the slope, roughly 5500 vines per hectare. The topsoils are chalk, stones and clay, the bottom part of the vineyard is a gentle slope that climbs to a challenging gradient. The centre of the vineyard is at 450m. The vines are farmed organically and all work in the vineyard is manual. The grapes are picked by hand at the end of October and fermentation is in open tonneaux (500 litre oak barrels with the top removed) using a spontaneous fermentation and a gentle, regular punch down of the cap. The wine is aged in barrique for 12 months.