The Pearl of Valor’s Vineyard: A Legacy in Need of Preservation and Enhancement
We Italians know how to be pioneers in some ways. First understood from the point of view of production, history, culture, environment and landscape, Italy is well aware of the importance of tradition.
We are talking about heroic viticulture, vineyards in the mountains, but also those that go up the coast, for example in the Cinque Terre, or in Pantelleria where there are several century vineyard.
However, in late September 2020, the decree defining the heroic and historic vineyards was finally enacted, entrusting the regions with the responsibility of recognizing and maintaining the register.
Thus, Italy was the first country in the world to have laws protecting, regulating and promoting the Vineyards of Valor, but it is certainly not the only one where there are Vineyards of Valor.
The decree was signed by three different ministers: the first was the Minister of Agricultural Policy, the second was the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities, and the last was the Minister of the Environment.
This means valiant and historic vineyards, recognized not only in a country of great wine diversity, but also in the preservation of cultural and environmental values in terms of civilization, territory, landscape and biodiversity.
It’s an important concept, one that once made a country like Italy extremely lazy when it comes to interdisciplinarity thank you.
All this – and it is important to underline this – is due to the Mountain Viticulture Research Center for R&D, Conservation, Coordination and Enhancement, which has been working since 1987 to protect and promote these SMEs of such importance.
Cervim is an international organization born under the auspices of the OIV, with more than 500 meters of vine-growing areas and mountains with a slope of no less than 30%.
Although based in Valle d’Aosta, its activities range from the arid vineyards of the isole Canarie to Curahuasi, Ande peruviane in the Peruvian Andes Vineyards, which also include those of the Mosella, Vallese, Duero, Auvergne and Asturie.
So sometimes the situation is very different, due to the heroism of the winemakers, and they do not have any mechanized operations in these difficult areas, and at the same time have to face many difficult problems such as soil erosion, erosion, dry stone wall collapse, etc., which naturally Conditions often differentiate the size of their daily work.
So who, after all, are these heroes of viticulture? We met some of them on our heroic white wine tours between Liguria, Sicily and Sardinia, let me introduce them to you.
