Back to the origins and the value of resistant vines: in Trentino, the vineyard moves to the museum

The Trento Grape Garden is a project of the Muse - Trento Science Museum, in collaboration with Cantina Endrizzi, maison of Trentodoc and more, which has focused on a sustainable demonstration vineyard in the “Museum’s biodiversity gardens”. The Grape Garden is a journey through history and tradition. In fact, wine-growing in Trentino has ancient origins: some archaeological finds confirm the cultivation of vines from the 4th century BC. The greatest expansion of vineyard areas was around 1930, with around 26,000 hectares under cultivation, which has now stabilized at around 10,000 hectares. In the Muse demonstration vineyard it is possible to observe the most typical forms of vine training.
The vines present have been selected from among the ancient and modern ones grown in Trentino, supplemented by some varieties resistant to the most common vine diseases (Johanniter B., Souvignier gris, Charvir, Pinot Regina, Nermantis and Pergola Termantis).
Resistant vines, and therefore less in need of treatment, are the focus of great interest in Trentino wine-growing. And the Grape Garden is an idea that goes in this direction. “Sustainable agriculture is the best way to think about our landscape today and tomorrow”, commented Michele Lanzinger, director of Muse.
The inauguration was accompanied by a round table on the scenarios for sustainable viticulture in Trentino. The conference, moderated by Aurora Endrici, was addressed by Michele Lanzinger, director of Muse; Paolo Endrici, owner of the Endrizzi winery, promoter of the Grape Garden project; Attilio Scienza, professor at the University of Milan and expert in sustainable viticulture; and Marco Stefanini, coordinator of the Edmund Mach Foundation’s Resistant Vines project.
“Trentino, sustainability, viticulture, resilience and future are five winning terms in themselves but they are not always ideally linked. Our job is to connect them. We're doing it today at the Muse, and we’ll do it tomorrow in our wineries, because having resistant vines, i.e. those that require less treatment, will lead us to a cleaner nature, to an increasingly beautiful and liveable Trentino”, emphasizes Paolo Endrici, owner of the Endrizzi winery.
“In the darkest periods of humanity, man took refuge in the earth, finding the resource for his regeneration. The mestizo (the resistant vine) will save the future of viticulture worldwide in the face of the threat of climate change. For contemporary viticulture, the resistant vine is like the discovery of the rootstock during the phylloxera pandemic”, reflects Professor Attilio Scienza.
“Variations in climate make research into resistant vines sustainable in order to improve the healthiness and sustainability of the environment where they are grown. The Foundation’s efforts to create a genetic database from seedlings of vines from the most diverse wine-growing areas in the world are valuable”, adds Marco Stefanini, coordinator of the Edmund Mach Foundation’s resistant vines project.