“Bye-bye, bella vecchia vigna”…. Do we really need inexpensive wine? Should supermarkets sell a bottle of Nebbiolo, Barbera or Dolcetto for 8,00, 4,00 or even 2,00 Euro? Do you ever ask yourself this? Perhaps not, because it is not your world, you could not care less, at what price level and in what quantities cheap wine is being sold. I understand your thinking and quite honestly, it has been a long while, that I have entered a supermarket and checked the prices of the low end bottles. The other day however, I had to think about the scenario of cheap wine again and this thought was not triggered by any cheap bottle, which I came across. It was triggered by something I saw, driving from my home in Campè to Castagnole Lanze, passing the road between Grinzane Cavour and Diano d’Alba. On the right hand side of the road was a beautiful old Barbera vineyard, the exposure was perfectly south and with vines all older than 45 years of age. When I passed by, the farmer, who had probably harvested the fruit a week before, was cutting the vines down to the thick trunks and had taken out the polls and connecting strings. I stopped the car, as I wanted to know, why he was cutting these beautiful plants. His answer unfortunately was, what I had feared, he was not just cutting the vine to perhaps regraft, no he was cutting the vines to tear them out and to replant the vineyard. He told me that at the vine age of 45, the grape productions was too little and by replanting he could add more vines, in comparison to what they had planted in the 60th and have more vine density, resulting yet in a bigger production. I asked him, if he did not care that the quality of the fruit would be completely different, than what he had produced with the old vines. He agreed that the quality would drop immensely, but so did his production costs. He told me, that it was a pity, but quality he could not sell, only cheap was selling these days. I left the man right there and while I continued my way to Castagnole Lanze, I kept thinking about the consequences, that this cheap supermarket wine production and consumption has to the farmers and to the region I call my home. Old vines, like the ones the farmer had torn out, have roots that go 5 to 10 meters into the ground. They hold the ground together and protect the hills from erosion. They could have produced quality fruit for another 30 years. The new dense planting will require fertilizing and more chemicals in order to protect the young vines from diseases. Yes, cheap on the shelf, affordable for anybody, but with great consequences to our land... Perhaps now you understand, why I am asking, “Do we really need cheap wine”? Giorgio, the farmer
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 08:19:51 +0000