"WineTales": Eight international film awards for short film with legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner

14 million views, 90,000 interactions, and eight international film awards: these are the key performance indicators of a broad campaign promoting the short film “WineTales“ by the Consorzio Alto Adige Wines. The film tells the story of “the most extreme vineyards in the world” with passion and humor. The project received celebrity support from one of Alto Adige’s most popular and beloved sons, Reinhold Messner, and it is not least thanks to his voluntary involvement that the film achieved global visibility really fast. Reinhold Messner’s amusing statement at the end of the film creates an element of surprise. So much creativity and self-irony deserves international recognition: “WineTales“ has won awards at seven international film festivals. The “World’s Best Tourism Film Awards” by the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals (CIFFT) consider it the second-best film in the Tourism Product category. Online, the campaign has already garnered more than 14 million views and 90,000 interactions.

The plot
“Only the most courageous wine growers manage to grow wine grapes in Alto Adige,” the film quips, a somewhat exaggerated statement. But it’s true: in the Südtirol/Alto Adige Alps, the experience of generations faces off against challenging conditions and forces of nature. Those extremes make for a compelling story, which is told in the film. In it, Reinhold Messner is featured as a celebrity champion for his home region and its stories about viticulture. How does one live among the most extreme vineyards in the world, and how does one work on them in order to produce real premium-quality wines? On the set of “WineTales“, winemakers and wine growers showcased their daily routines during 56 hours of shooting time, tongue firmly in cheek. With patience and careful selection and a willingness to take risks, they are striving for top quality. Ain’t no slope steep enough, ain’t no gale stormy enough – for the great mountain wines of Alto Adige.  

The accolades
The film was shown at film festivals in South Africa, Latvia, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, and Croatia, winning a total of seven film awards. The International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals (CIFFT) awarded second place to “WineTales“, that is the eighth award. The film was realized by two from Alto Adige: producer Mirko Bocek and director Lorenz Klapfer.

It is part of the worldwide online and social media awareness campaign #winetales2021. Followers had the chance to become part of the wine tale of Alto Adige. When promoting the campaign and the film, the team was banking on the power of community, which plays a special role for the winemakers of Alto Adige. For instance, “WineTales“ was announced and shared by more than one hundred winemakers and wine growers in Alto Adige.

For more information please follow the LINK


About Alto Adige Wines

Viticulture is one of the region’s central social and cultural pillars. Characterized by an Alpine landscape and kissed by the Mediterranean sun: thanks to its geographic location and climatic conditions, Südtirol/Alto Adige is one of the most multi-faceted winegrowing regions in the world. There are vineyards in Mediterranean valleys and also at an altitude of 1,000 meters above sea level. More than 20 different grape varieties form the basis for the mountain wines of Alto Adige. Almost the entire area under vines is classified as “controlled designation of origin” (DOC), which is unique not only in Italy.

The Consorzio Alto Adige Wines was founded in 2007 as a platform for the marketing and image building of Alto Adige winemaking. It is an association of cooperatives, estate wineries, and independent winegrowers in the province. By now, the Consorzio Alto Adige Wines has developed into a competence center for wine.