Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours, led by Annette Schiller, took place from Sunday, September 06 - Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Being
the northernmost wine region of Italy, Alto Adige is a very
special place where Italian and German traditions merge. It is a
fascinating and unique region in the Alpes. It boasts of an
extraordinary variety of landscapes: snow-capped mountains in the
Dolomites, fertile valleys, streams, century-old breathtakingly
beautiful towns true to their hybrid Germanic-Italian culture.
During this tour we did not change
hotels. We stayed 7 nights at the famous, beautiful 5-star Art-Nouveau
style Parkhotel Laurin in Bozen.
See:
Day 4: This was our day to go to Trentino and to also explore the Valpolicella region north of Verona and also taste @Amarone
(1)
Azienda Agricola Foradori, the world-renowned biodynamic winery in Trentino, often called the "Queen of Teroldogo", that Elisabetta Foradori took over at a very young age. Today, the estate is run by Elisabetta's three children Emilio, Theo and
Myrtha Zierock and the latter was our host.
I met her for the first time many years ago at a winemaker dinner at
Restaurant schauMahl in Frankfurt when she was still studying in Germany. Myrtha showed us the vineyards and the wine cellar, including the very special amphora cellar, probably the largest in the world, and we sat down for a tasting of the Foradori
#worldclass wines.
Winemaker Dinner with Azienda Agricola Foradori (Trentino, Italy) at SchauMahl in Frankfurt, Germany (2015)
(2) Lunch at @Enotheca della Valpolicella in Fumane with @Valpolicella wines. The lunch was excellent - very local and traditional, and at the same time at
MICHELIN Guide level. We were met by the owner Ada Riolfi.
(3) Visit of @Allegrini , a benchmark producer in the @Valpolicella Classica region. We tasted through the whole range of the Valpolicella wine pyramid: Valpolicella Classico, Superiore, Amarone (using the appassimento method) and Recioto.
(4) Tour of Verona with the ancient Roman Arena that still hosts summer opera shows and the story of Romeo and Juliet. The tour ended with a glass of wine in a traditional wine bar.
Azienda Agricola Foradori sits in Mezzolombardo, in Trentino's Piana Rotaliana. The Piana Rotalina
is a broad alluvial plain formed by the river Noce which deposited gravel and sandy soils over
centuries. The Piana Rotaliana is almost completely surrounded by vertical cliffs that can reach
heights up to 4000 ft. This valley is the historic heartland of Teroldego, an ancient red grape found
almost nowhere else in the world. This unique gepgraphy protects the vineyards from harsh alpine
winds and stores daytime heat and radiate it back at night, contributing to a beneficial diurnal
temperature shift. This helps the grapes ripen beautifully, developing concentrated flavors while
retaining bright acidity.
The estate was established in 1901 and purchased by the Foradori family in
1939. After the sudden death of her father in 1976, Elisabetta Foradori took over at just twenty years
old following studies at the San Michele all'Adige wine school, crafting her first vintage in 1984.
Then she met German Professor Rainer Zierock, who had a major impact both on her private and
business life.
In 1984, when Elisabetta Foradori began her winemaker career, Trentino was
dominated by large wine coops planting international varieties such as the fashionable Merlot or
Cabernet Sauvignon. Rainer Zierock pushed her not to go the international varieties route, but to
keep and to focus on the local varieties, in particular Teroldego. What followed transformed both
the estate and Teroldego's reputation. Elisabetta rejected industrial clonal selection in favor of
massal selection, eventually identifying fifteen distinct historic Teroldego biotypes across her
vineyards, and became known internationally as the "Queen of Teroldego" for elevating a grape once
sold off cheaply in bulk into one of Italy's most respected reds, notably through her flagship wine,
Granato.
In 2002 she began converting the estate to biodynamic farming, achieving certification in
2009, and pioneered the use of Spanish clay amphorae alongside oak and cement, arguing that clay
lets a wine "reconnect to the earth."
Today Elisabetta's and Rainer Zierock’s children run day-to-
day operations, with son Emilio overseeing winemaking using native yeasts and minimal sulfur, and
Myrtha focusing on the business part. The family has expanded into a fully polycultural farm,
raising Tyrolean Grey cattle and cultivating vegetables alongside the vines that made them famous.
Arriving
Harvest 2026CellarVineyardCellarTastingSelfie with Myrtha Zierock ForadoriBye-bye Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours: Already Released and Forthcoming Postings
Monastery Tour, Vineyard Tour and Wine Tasting at the Neustift Monastery in Brixen - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch at Granpanorama Hotel Sambergerhof, Famous for its Uninterrupted 54-kilometer Panoramic View of the Dolomites Chain - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Lovely Al Fresco Dinner in the Alleys of Old Town Bolzano at Franziskaner Stuben - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Winery Tour and Tasting at Azienda Agricola Foradori, the World-renowned Biodynamic Winery in Trentino, with Myrtha Zierock Foradori - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch at Enotheca della Valpolicella in Fumane with Valpolicella Wines, with Owner Ada Riolfi - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Visit of Allegrini, a Benchmark Producer in the Valpolicella Classica Region, Tasting through Valpolicella Wine Pyramid: Valpolicella, Valpolicella Superiore, Amarone and Recioto - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Tour of Verona with the Ancient Roman Arena that still hosts Summer Opera Shows and the Story of Romeo and Juliet - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Tasting at Weingut Tiefenbrunner with Owner hristof Tiefenbrunner in Kurtatsch - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch and Tasting at Elena Walch at Castel Ringberg, Overlooking Lake Caldero - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner at Thaler Arome, an Upscale Rooftop Restaurant in the Heart of Bolzano - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Manincor, a Biodynamic Pioneer and Flagship Winery of the Region, with Owner Count Michael Goess Enzenberg - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch at Alpin Hut Oberholz up in the Dolomites 6300 Feet Above Sea Level - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Tasting at Cantina Kurtatsch, a Premier Cooperative, with a Spectacular View of Adige Valley - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Extensive Vineyard Tour, Tasting and Lunch at Alois Lageder, a Historic, Family-run Flagship Winery in Alto Adige, with Sarah Daval, Weinakademiker - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Tour and Tasting at Tenuta Hofstätter in Tramin, a Flagship Winery of the Alto Adige Region, a Pioneer of Vigna (Single Vineyard) Classification in Alto Adige, with Fourth-generation Owner Martin Hofstaetter - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy WineTours
Farewell Dinner at Restaurant 1500 (1 Star Michelin) up in the Vigiljoch above Lana (Reachable only by Cable Car), with Chef Daniel Sanin and Sous-Chef Jonas Graber - Alto Adige 2026 by ombiasy
WineTours
