new spaces 10 EN

56 Thinking the Future V world. One reason for that is certainly her approach to winemaking: she focuses not on maximising production but rather on producing small batches of top-quality wine. In addition, she employs some relatively unusual methods — but we’ll come to that later. Foradori is a petite woman who, despite her classic beauty, has an extremely energetic personality. Her handshake is fi rm and strong, with fi ngers dusty. One always has the impression that Foradori has just come in from the vineyard. “My whole goal is to nurture the life of this soil and its vines,” she says. “Everything I do is about having a deeper, more open approach to nature.” Foradori’s vineyard is completely unlike the streamlined monocultures that have become standard practice in the global winemaking industry. Here, fl owers and other plants grow between the rows of vines — poppies, barley, daisies. The grass in the paths between the vines is not mowed, so that it can grow freely and help to improve the quality of the soil — and that’s not all. Foradori points to a couple of fruit trees near the vines. “We encourage wildlife here, and this region off ers them an ideal habitat,” she says. “Pheasants, foxes and rabbits live here in the tall grass. Every year, when we harvest we fi nd all sorts of bird nests among the vines.” This teeming vineyard is a logical extension of her philosophy, which emphasises the connection between human beings and nature as well as the eternal search for balance and harmony. Of course there are other vineyards in the Rotaliano Plain that are cultivated in the traditional way, boosting their harvests through the use of fertilisers and pesticides. Foradori’s face clouds over when she talks about all the mistakes being made by the industrialised agriculture of today: intensive use of chemicals, monoculture crops, corporate farming. By contrast, Foradori wants to work with the land rather than against it and to give the fruits of the earth the status they deserve. The teroldego grape is traditionally used to make a very rustic wine, which is sold via the local winegrowers’ cooperatives. Foradori wanted to make the most of this grape’s inherent strengths and unique character. That’s why she decided to start aging her wines in small French barrels known as barriques. The resulting cuvée, called Granato, helped the teroldego grape to shake off its rustic image. In cities like New York and Hong Kong, a bottle of Granato sells for around 60 US dollars. Nonetheless, Foradori is not satisfi ed with this success; she’s already working on the next wine revolution. In the future, she will no longer be aging her wines in barriques; instead, she’ll be using earthenware amphoras. She explains her reasons over a delicious pasta lunch prepared by

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