11.02.2021
The Pioneer Spirit in Alto Adige Winemaking
The Real Trailblazers as the Basis for Success
Reading time: 3 '
They are farsighted visionaries, they are courageous experimenters, they are the wise ones who point the right direction. We’re talking about the winegrowers, winemakers, and presidents of Alto Adige’s wineries who have made Alto Adige wine what it is today: a top-quality product with unique quality. As an homage to their commitment, the Consortium of Alto Adige Wine has provided a special stage to four distinctive figures in the form of videos.
In them, these aged rocks of Alto Adige winegrowing tell of their beginnings, dreams, and visions and of their formative experiences. Of the development of quality over the past fifty years, which was carried out with respect for tradition, but also with the consciousness of the innovative changes that were necessary for it. At the same time, these prominent personalities allow us to share in their ideas for the future.
The holistic sustainable winegrowing concept and the biodynamic cultivation for which Alois Lageder of the estate winery of the same name in Margreid stands are revealed. The role of the cooperative, which advanced to being the forerunner of the development of quality – to which Luis Raifer, president for many years of the Cantina Colterenzio in Cornaiano-Appiano, substantially contributed – is portrayed. The video on Paolo Foradori of the J. Hofstätter Estate Winery in Termeno presents his special commitment to the international marketing of Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer as well the development of the “Vigna” designation. And the commitment of Hartmut Spitaler to the traditional Schiava (Vernatsch) vine with his single vineyard selections and, at the same time, his prescient spirit of innovation play the leading role in the fourth video.
They are just a few of the Alto Adige pioneers who were responsible in the 1970s and 1980s for the province’s leap from mass production to being a top winegrowing area. How did that occur? With a radical reduction in yields in favor of quality, and through the harmonious cooperation of people and nature, terroir and geology. And finally, because of the unbridled will to make the brand of Alto Adige wine well known and also market it internationally.
As different as the individual participants in the wine sector are, they are all connected by the core values that make Alto Adige so special: the conscious economizing for the generation of tomorrow, the farsighted thought and the adaptability to new conditions, and their passion for the profession of winegrowing and its product.
In coming months, we will present you with additional Alto Adige pioneers – you will certainly be excited!
In them, these aged rocks of Alto Adige winegrowing tell of their beginnings, dreams, and visions and of their formative experiences. Of the development of quality over the past fifty years, which was carried out with respect for tradition, but also with the consciousness of the innovative changes that were necessary for it. At the same time, these prominent personalities allow us to share in their ideas for the future.
The holistic sustainable winegrowing concept and the biodynamic cultivation for which Alois Lageder of the estate winery of the same name in Margreid stands are revealed. The role of the cooperative, which advanced to being the forerunner of the development of quality – to which Luis Raifer, president for many years of the Cantina Colterenzio in Cornaiano-Appiano, substantially contributed – is portrayed. The video on Paolo Foradori of the J. Hofstätter Estate Winery in Termeno presents his special commitment to the international marketing of Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer as well the development of the “Vigna” designation. And the commitment of Hartmut Spitaler to the traditional Schiava (Vernatsch) vine with his single vineyard selections and, at the same time, his prescient spirit of innovation play the leading role in the fourth video.
They are just a few of the Alto Adige pioneers who were responsible in the 1970s and 1980s for the province’s leap from mass production to being a top winegrowing area. How did that occur? With a radical reduction in yields in favor of quality, and through the harmonious cooperation of people and nature, terroir and geology. And finally, because of the unbridled will to make the brand of Alto Adige wine well known and also market it internationally.
As different as the individual participants in the wine sector are, they are all connected by the core values that make Alto Adige so special: the conscious economizing for the generation of tomorrow, the farsighted thought and the adaptability to new conditions, and their passion for the profession of winegrowing and its product.
In coming months, we will present you with additional Alto Adige pioneers – you will certainly be excited!
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