Photo: Cantina Valle Isarco. Image courtesy Unione Italiana Vini Servizi.
The alpine vineyards of the Cantina Valle Isarco in northern Italy will become the backdrop for the most advanced technologies and equipment for heroic viticulture, at the Enovitis Extrême field trials and live performances of machines for viticulture on Thursday 13 July.
Following the 17th iteration of Enovitis in Campo earlier this year, the Enovitis Extrême will focus on mountain vineyards, looking closely at operating machines and equipment intended for use in impervious orographic conditions, with high slopes and limited manoeuvring spaces. Tractors, mini tracked tractors, transporters and tool carriers will all be on show. These are almost custom-made, often by craft-scale companies specialising in this technological niche, which involves terrains with a more than 30 per cent incline, an altitude of over 500 metres above sea level, viticultural systems on terraces and steps, and small islands.
“Enovitis Extrême aims to support and promote companies operating in areas characterised by very high production costs,” said Paolo Castellett, the Secretary General of Unione Italiana Vini.
“Suffice to say that what is done on the plain with an average of less than 100 working hours per hectare, in these vineyards takes more than 600. This kind of viticulture has specific requirements, yet it plays a historical role both in terms of oenological production and the conservation and maintenance of territories.”
According to the survey on the wine supply chain in Italy carried out by the Uiv-Vinitaly Wine Observatory, 51% of the national vineyards are located above 300 metres of altitude, with 42% in the hills (301-700 metres) and 9% in the mountains (above 700 metres).
Enovitis Extrême has 83 exhibiting companies and is held in partnership with the Centre for Research, Environmental Sustainability and Advancement of Mountain Viticulture (CERVIM) and with the South Tyrol Wine Consortium, a protection body that brings together over 186 members among cooperatives, companies and independent winemakers.
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