ORGANIC PROSECCO AND MORE: disease resistant grape varieties, the Organic 2.0 is here
Did you know that there is an all new generation of vine varieties that do not need any chemical treatment to survive? Since these disease resistant varieties could help organic farming to become even more sustainable, it is not time for me to pull back!
First of all: what are disease resistant grape varieties?
They are particular grape varieties obtained thanks to a natural Hybridization of plants (NO GMO). In other words, this is a pollination of one plant species with the flower of another one, in order to making the offspring of the two varieties a stronger vine.
Italian research of Udine University and IGA has excelled on this specific field by creating 10 new disease resistant grape varieties.
These new plants are amazing: they can resist the attack of powdery mildew or downy mildew, botrytis cinerea and extremely low temperatures (even -4°F).
An important step in organic farming continuous improvement process
Thanks to alternative vine defense systems, organic farming production can be carried out without the use of pesticides and herbicides. This is good. However, I think that every human activity (even especially organic farming) should aim to a continuous improvement, something that Japanese people call “Kaizen”.
How can we improve organic farming in wine production? It’s simple: if we grow disease resistant organic grape varieties we will achieve the total sustainability. In fact, since these plants could resist the attack of powdery mildew or downy mildew, not only synthetic pesticides or herbicides but also the use of coper dust (permitted by the organic law) will become useless.
A choice for future generations
What kind of organic farmer would I be if I said no to these kind of new challenges?
Last year I read about a tasting event, organized by famous Italian magazine Gambero Rosso, of wine made with disease resistant grape varieties. It turned out that the served wines’ sensorial qualities were the same of conventional wines. I got extremely curious and I decided to plant 1,30 ha of disease resistant Sauvignon (Sauvignon Kretos). Will it be a good investment? Only time will tell. But I confess, I’m confident in success!
My big curiosity led me to create also a small disease resistant vineyard made of 10 different grape varieties in the company’s didactic zone and a small laboratory for these particular grapes vinification tests.
Organic Prosecco’s disease resistant grape variety, when?
Obviously, since my top product is the Organic Prosecco, my wish is to see some Prosecco’s disease resistant grape variety in the vineyard someday.
Regarding this, I’m happy to say that there’s good news.
In the wake of the University of Udine’s research, also the Conegliano Crea-Vit Institute started a study for the development of Prosecco’s disease resistant grape variety.
The success of this research is crucial for the improvement of my job; now that my 160ha vineyard’s organic conversion process is concluded, the next step will be the total substitution of the actual Organic Prosecco grape variety (100ha) with the new Prosecco’s disease resistant grape variety.
So, let’s move to the final goal: total sustainability in the vineyard.
Happy farmer