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Italian winegrowers have officially founded the national association "Piwi Italia", based at the Edmund Mach Foundation in San Michele all'Adige (Trentino). They elected Marco Stefanini, Head of the Vine Genetics Department of the Edmund Mach Foundation's Research and Innovation Centre, as President. Riccardo Velasco, Director of the Research Centre for Viticulture and Oenology (Crea-Ve) in Conegliano, will assist him as Vice-President. The winegrowers of the regional Piwi associations had already announced the founding of a national association at Vinitaly 2023 in Verona.
"This is a historic moment for Italian viticulture. Anyone who starts growing resistant varieties can register with the association. More than 250 Italian producers now belong to it," said Marco Stefanini. The aims of the new association are to raise awareness and knowledge about resistant varieties and to lobby so that other Italian regions also authorise Piwi varieties.
Italy has not authorised resistant varieties at national level, but only at regional level. Piwi varieties were planted very early on in Veneto, followed by winegrowers in Trentino, South Tyrol, Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Lazio and Campania. However, not all regions are authorised to grow piwi varieties. There are currently 36 resistant varieties registered in the national grape variety register.
The first national meeting is due to take place in Trentino in spring.
(ru / Winenews)