The Vineyard Hills of Soave are now officially a “Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System”

The “pillars” of the Vineyard Hills of Soave include a system characterized by dry-stone walls and terracing on the slopes of the hills, the Pergola Veronese, which is a traditional scaffolding to sustain the vines of the Garganega grape, the drying technique used to produce Recioto di Soave (the first DOCG in the Veneto Region in 1998), and the historical Cooperatives, which over the years have worked to equally distribute growth within the Denomination. Soave is one of the first territories in Italy to be recognized as “Landscape of Historical Interest”, and now it has been officially recognized as a «Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System”, among the GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System) sites, and officially approved during the “inauguration” ceremony, recently held at FAO headquarters in Rome, presided over by the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Qu Dongyu, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Luigi D'Eramo and the Consortium for the Protection of Soave.
In 2002, FAO established GIAHS sites as those agricultural areas around the world that promote sustainable agriculture, stay away from industrial processes, and which maintain a close connection to landscape, local products and associated rural communities. This path has, in effect, introduced a radical change in its vision, which places man at the center of the agricultural context, and no longer as a subject that disturbs the existing ecosystem using a form of intensive agriculture; on the contrary, the primary architect in maintaining biodiversity and landscape conservation.
The recognition, “has made us fully aware of our responsibilities as winemakers”, Sandro Gini, president of the Soave Consortium, said, “we are called to live in a time of extreme change, where agriculture no longer assumes just the function of nutrition, although noble and vital. Today, especially through those who work in agriculture, it is a means and tool to maintain and conserve the environment in which we all live”.
Moreover, the recognition reaffirms the commitment to maintain the founding values of the Soave identity firmly in place. First and foremost, of course, its tradition, rural development, landscape protection and the sustainability of its agricultural systems. In this context, the Consortium will continue to work towards fostering a growing awareness of the production base in several directions. These include: increasing the use of the Pergola Veronese as a form of propagation with an identity, compared to other systems; divulging guidelines making it possible to reduce the risk of erosion, also using new technologies; limiting introducing elements and materials n to connected to the traditional historical context of Soave; continuing Soave’s advanced defense system, thanks to technical meetings regarding daily management in the vineyard; promoting an approach that respects one's landscape identity, specifics and morphological characteristics; continuing to maintain biodiversity; setting up roundtables related to the issue of water resource management, and encouraging the development of experiential tourism, connected to seasonality, wine and local products.