Vinitaly: Terre di Ger presents 6 wines from resistant grape varieties | PAD 6 STAND D6

Robert Spinazzè's Friulian estate arrives at the Verona show with an innovative proposal that places man and the environment at the centre, presenting 6 labels produced "according to nature" with an extraordinary result in the glass.

The Terre di Ger Friulian winery, one of the most important Italian companies in the world of Piwi wines for experience and prestige, bets on the resistant ones and presents itself at Vinitaly (Verona, 2-5 April) with 6 wines produced "according to nature" from plants which are highly tolerant of fungal adversities. 18 hectares of white and red varieties, perhaps one of the largest areas currently planted which allow extensive experimentation and maturation of experience both in the countryside and in the cellar.

The company of Robert Spinazzè, pioneer of resistant vines in Frattina di Pravisdomini (Pordenone) , on the border between Veneto and Friuli with vineyards also in the Coste del Feltrino (Dolomiti project) and in the heart of the Jesi hills in the Marche region , after having ringed a series of successes - best winery in Friuli Venezia Giulia for ethics, sustainability and innovation at the latest Wine in Venice , first place in Italy both as absolute best wine (Feltro 2021) and as best red wine (Caliere Rosso 2020) in the Competition National Vineyard Piwi of the Edmund Mach Foundation of San Michele all'Adige (Trento) - arrives at the Verona show with a courageous project that places man and the environment at the center for an “enoic” resistance to mass viticulture .

Piwi vines ("pilzwiderstandsfähig" in German) are natural crosses between European vinifera and a small part of other vine varieties of American and Asian origins which carry resistance genes and are therefore plants capable of defending themselves against the main vine diseases . This means eco-compatibility with the surrounding environment, protection of consumer health , improvement of the quality of life of those who work in the vineyard and those who live around the vineyard, reduction of CO2 emissions, conservation of biodiversity with hedges, woods and trees from fruit for a healthy drink , but with an extraordinary result on the glass.

Viticulture , although it represents only 3% of the European agricultural area , uses 65% of all the fungicides used in agriculture, or 68,000 tons/year (source: Assoenologi/Vini e Viti Rsostenibili). Hence the need to act.

«In 2007 - says Robert Spinazzè - I met Erhart Tutzer , the famous South Tyrolean nurseryman who, since the 1970s, had been breeding by crossing wine-bearing varieties and experimenting with new vines who told me: “Climate change is negatively impacting our viticulture and we will reach a point where it will no longer be possible to make wine. What is conventional today will be regulated by economies of scale and industrial laws. People want to drink healthy. But be careful, going organic will be impossible because fungal diseases will multiply. So, as soon as the new varieties called resistant were authorised, albeit under observation, I decided to plant them right away and start this new path which is borderline, but I don't think for much longer. In Friuli I have put the varieties authorized in the Region and fruit of the research of the University of Udine . In Veneto , on the other hand, I planted vines of German and South Tyrolean origin . The wines that are obtained are special for their diversity. Shades of color, aromas, perfumes of absolute beauty . There were few references, but in this way Terre di Ger has found its identity by offering wines of great personality on the market. The story now begins with the preface and introduction.'

«In Terre di Ger we are in the fifth season - continues Spinazzè -. The whites are very aromatic. At the head the Soreli of our Limine (from the Latin limen, threshold / border). Very structured and complex, it recalls the old Tocai from Friuli. Then Sauvignon Kretos which has the characteristics of Sauvignon only in the name, for the rest it is a Friulian hybrid in the glass of Arconi (from the Rio Arcone which flows along the border between Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto). In the Feltro there is the resistant part of the Veneto with the Solaris and the Bronner. Acidity, aroma and structure. The newcomer, Rufini (it was the name of the brick stamp branded on the bricks of the kilns), is a sparkling wine from resistant varieties of Souvignier Gris and Bronner produced with the long Charmat method, the nose is crunchy green apple, new in every sense also for the market. The reds amaze and "break" the beliefs of those who think that mainly whites are made in Friuli. Caliere (name of the ancient natural basins of the upper Treviso area) and El Masut (“small farm” in dialect). Merlot Khorus and Khantus grapes in the first. Resistant Bordeaux blend in the second with the addition of Cabernet Eidos to the first. Surprise and subsequent curiosity in the tastings with the passage from the pleasantness of the first to the robustness and long drinkability of the second. The resisters can also be important reds».

«This is our project: no defensive viticulture, but instead a force towards the new , the innovation that breaks the dogmas known until now. There is ever more insistent talk of climate, of adversity, of viticulture now affected by events that are difficult to predict. If there are solutions that come directly from the nursery and help to resist sustainably , it is our duty to encourage them», concludes Spinazzè.

THE WINERY WILL BE PRESENT AT VINITALY IN HALL 6 STAND D6.