Passion for location and terroir

Paolo Foradori is one of the great pioneers of South Tyrolean viticulture and has not only written several chapters in the history of the J. Hofstätter winery in Tramin, but also in the history of Italian viticulture. He recognized the great potential of the Mazon growing area very early on and played a leading role in the success of South Tyrolean Pinot Noir in this unique location. He gave South Tyrolean Gewürztraminer the elegance it needed and helped it gain recognition and appreciation. Paolo Foradori was born in Bolzano in 1935 into a family from Trentino. His father, Vittorio Foradori, a lawyer with a passion for viticulture, acquired three vineyards on the Mazon plateau above Neumarkt in the South Tyrolean lowlands. However, Paolo decided to go against his father's plans and study oenology instead of pursuing a career in law. In 1959, he married Sieglinde Oberhofer, grandniece of the winery owner Josef Hofstätter in Tramin. Together with his wife, Paolo Foradori shaped the future of the family winery, the only one in South Tyrol to own vineyards on both sides of the Etschtal valley.

While many were still concentrating on exporting bulk wines, Paolo Foradori revolutionized the wine distribution of the J. Hofstätter winery and created a capillary sales network in Italy that still exists today.

However, his greatest achievement was the introduction of the designation "Vigna" on the labels of the renowned single-vineyard wines. In 1987, Paolo Foradori vinified the Pinot Noir "Vigna S. Urbano," the first officially classified single-vineyard wine in South Tyrol. Thanks in part to him, the designation "Vigna" is now considered a guarantee that a wine comes from a specific, precisely defined vineyard.

Paolo Foradori's life is marked by adventurous and entertaining anecdotes—with charisma, charm, and irony, he made South Tyrolean wine famous far beyond the region's borders.

Shortly before his death at the end of 2020, Paolo Foradori once again reflected on his recipe for success, in which tradition plays a very special role; knowledge passed down through generations is the strength of the J. Hofstätter family winery. With Paolo Foradori, a pioneer has passed away, but his life's work remains.