Vivit - Vinitaly presents wines from organic and biodynamic agriculture

VIVIT – WINES, WINEGROWERS AND TERROIRS VINITALY PRESENTS WINES FROM ORGANIC AND BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE

It may be a niche, yet wines from organic and biodynamic agriculture are increasingly attracting the interest of consumers. This trend should by no means be underestimated, since society as a whole in any case is requesting production methods ensuring low environmental impact. Vivit at Vinitaly offers producers and traders the chance to get to know each other better, over and above ideologies and in the name of fine wine

Verona, 12 January 2012 – Vivit – Wines, Winegrowers and Terroirs - is the new exhibition at Vinitaly this year dedicated for the first time to natural wines from organic and biodynamic agriculture. The event will be set up on the 1st floor of Palaexpo, entrance A.

"With this Initiative," says Giovanni Mantovani, CEO & Director General of VeronaFiere, "Vinitaly responds to market requests for more information about wines from organic and biodynamic agriculture. Our approach has already been successfully experimented over several editions, last but not least with Sparkling Italy in 2011, and seeks to highlight individual production segments through dedicated focus events to encourage effective contact between supply and demand."

The debate around wines from organic and biodynamic agriculture has already been underway for some years, since the techniques adopted are not backed up in EU legislation by rules applied throughout the process. This is why, from a juridical point of view, one may only mention “wine made from organically grown grapes”.
With the precise intention of avoiding misunderstandings over which wines will be included in this exhibition, Vinitaly asked the companies involved in ViVit to sign a very strict self-certification document concerning the production methods used in vineyards and wine cellars.
The idea that the largest international appointment dedicated to wine, scheduled in Verona 25-28 March 2012 (www.vinitaly.com) opens its doors to such products has aroused interest among producers and about one hundred companies, from the main wine-making countries, have already signed up for this initiative.
"Companies taking part in ViViT," says Elena Pantaleoni, of the organic company La Stoppa , "are winegrowers whose primary objective is to produce wines having strong bonds with the local area. As the French put it: vins de terroir. We often implement organic or biodynamic agriculture but are not always certified. In the wine cellar, we implemented methods that do not alter the features of the local area, nor those of the vintage or the grapes; with our wines, we seek to express the unique character and personality typical of every vocational area."
Producing using the biodynamic method, that is without applying intensive methods and leaving the land to nourish plants without any external aid "is not, in itself, an absolute warranty of quality," says Nicolas Joly, founder of La Renaissance des Appellations, the winegrowers’ association set up in 2001 joined by about 200 producers in 14 countries, of which 34 in Italy. The result depends on the place where the grapes are grown and the grapes chosen, yet when tasting one of these wines one understands the difference because they return to the truth of taste."
It is rather difficult to obtain precise data about wine-growing in biodynamic, territorial or natural agriculture, although numerous associations are active on a supranational scale with a small but significant number of members.
The organic sector is more monitored: Sinab (national organic agriculture information system) suggests that areas already converted and currently in the process of conversion to organic agriculture in Italy in 2009 came to little over 6% of total vineyards, equal to more than 43,600 hectares. The regions most involved are those in the centre-south of the country, while among major wine producing regions only Tuscany is involved with a significant percentage (10%).