PIWI Portugal
PIWI International has kindly invited me to represent them in Portugal to help inform wine growers and winemakers here about PIWI grape varieties, with the aim to increase confidence leading to planting and producing portuguese wines made from these vines.
In addition Portugal has one of the largest numbers of native varieties and research into breeding PIWI vines using these Autoctone varieties as part of a successful PIWI variety would be very important not only for Portugal.
I am an engineer by training having worked in heavy industry, but moving to film and television in the 70s as a sound engineer and later developing products for this industry in my company in Munich.
I and my wife Helga moved to Portugal and started an organic winery in 2001 called Vinhos Cortém. We were certified organic in 2010 and with 4.5 Ha. of vines and 16 different international and portuguese grape varieties, made organic wine until 2019 when we sold the winery. But we are continuing making wine on a small scale with about 2 Ha. In this way, we can continue our passion making wine in our terroir and remain in the wine community here. We welcome all Piwistas to visit us if they are in Portugal!
See details on www.wineeccentrics.com
ChristopherPrice
Rua João Alves 37-39
Cortem
2500-741 VIDAIS
Telemove: +351 912288586
E-mail: c.price@gmx.de
Internet: www.wineeccentrics.com
Latest News
Spotlight on PIWI varieties by Edy Geiger
Since 2021, when many winegrowers were only able to keep fungal diseases under control with great difficulty, interest in PIWI vines has risen sharply. Especially because of the prospect of financial aid for new plants. PIWI pioneer Edy Geiger presents what he sees as the most promising varieties.
Source: Swiss magazine Obst + Wein April 2023
Cooperation with wein.plus: Benefit as a member of PIWI-International!
There is a cooperation between PIWI International and wein.plus that aims to promote the association and its members on wein.plus. In this webinar, which lasts no more than 10 minutes, Utz Graafmann will show how you as a winery can benefit from this.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 6 p.m. (the webinar will be recorded)
Sell wine successfully with wein.plus for wineries
Find out how you, as a winery, can maximize your wine sales, find stockists across Europe and get support in the sales process. Learn methods to increase the visibility of your winery on wein.plus and increase your sales figures. Use wein.plus to bring additional visitors to your winery or to advertise events.
Language: German
Duration: 20 minutes
First Worldwide Online PIWI SUMMIT
The Green Deal, the CRISPR-Cas technique and the resistance gene in the spotlight: Are we excited or not?
As PIWI representative in Spain, I was delighted to attend this first summit.
I took part with the aim of training myself, because resistant varieties are a new world that is opening up to us and I am convinced that it will represent the viticulture of the future.
I am happy to see this development:
- how the idea of crossing Vitis species with each other to make vines more resistant came about,
- in which countries these new varieties spread the most
- knowing that each new PIWI grape variety requires more than thirty years of research.
Climate change and the Green Deal are so topical and omnipresent that we now have to rethink and take the bull by the horns.
Although Spain's wine legislation does not yet provide for the cultivation of resistant varieties for commercial purposes, it is clear that this must change immediately.
PIWI International is represented and active throughout Europe and the response to these “NEW WINES” is spectacular, especially for their quality and sustainability; a must with regard to environmental protection and health.
With regard to the Green Deal, I was captivated by the lecture by Dr. Wolfgang Häussler, PIWI winemaker and EU advisor.
The F2F strategy (Farm to Fork) and the strategy to promote biodiversity for sustainable food production envisage a reduction in the use of pesticides by 50 % by 2030.
In order to achieve these goals, the following measures are required in the wine sector, among others:
- provide for the use of products and techniques to minimize toxicological and ecological risks,
- to keep the soil organically active and to promote biodiversity
- start the transition from growing traditional grape varieties to growing resistant varieties.
Opinions are divided on one topic: the CRISPR-CAS9 technique, which the EU considers suitable for speeding up the breeding of resistant varieties.
Some organic winegrowers do not find this “natural”, while the proponents consider it acceptable because no genetic modification per se takes place, but only the improvement of the resistant properties is worked out, which otherwise takes years of breeding.
I will not go into any more detail as all the presentations explaining these issues can be found in the members area of the PIWI International website.
The role of PIWI International in terms of communication and lobbying was explained in further presentations: With almost 1000 members in 30 countries, PIWI International is one of the largest international winegrowers' associations.
In order to strengthen the lobbying character of the association and to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between winegrowers, researchers and politicians in the wine sector, a comprehensive internal and external communication strategy has already been initiated.
Another incredible talk was given by Vitalie Popa, the Moldovan inventor of barrels that allow the winemaking and aging process to be completely free of preservatives and additives.
And last but not least, the lecture by Remo Räz from the biodynamic winery LENZ in Switzerland, who reported on their experiences with 12 PIWI red wine varieties and went into vinification and marketing of these PIWIs.
This case clearly showed us that PIWI brings about a drastic reduction in pesticide treatments, eliminates the need for copper and greatly reduces fuel consumption compared to traditional varieties.
The world is changing and it is time to act and bring nature back into our lives.
Together we can do anything.
We therefore invite you to actively participate in our community by sharing information and contributing your knowledge or experience.
Click here for the podcast with Wolfgang Häußler and Diego Weber (German)
Become a member: https://piwi-international.org/der-verein/mitglied-werden/
Karin Lundberg – PIWI Spain in January 2023
PS: Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention that the PIWI SUMMIT will take place quarterly. So make a note of the next date in your agenda: April 17, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
PIWI is developing into a quality mark - PIWI Wine Challenge 2022
High level at the PIWI International Wine Challenge 2022
Gone are the days when PIWI vines were grown primarily for environmental reasons. There are now many very good wines made from PIWI varieties, as well as numerous internationally committed winegrowers who can draw on a lot of experience with PIWIs both in viticulture and in winemaking and who bottle the best wines, which the PIWI International Wine Challenge 2022 has fully confirmed . Two thirds of the wines received SILVER or GOLD, even TOP GOLD. The high quality was generally confirmed by the visitors at the subsequent public tasting, for which all the wines were presented according to the blind evaluation. The PIWI mark, which PIWI members are allowed to put on the labels of their wines, can be considered something of a quality mark. And so PIWI wines bring environmental protection and enjoying good wines together and can be considered an important future of wine.
Divico wines blended with Pinot noir - good quality and intense colour
Divico, Agroscope's new disease-resistant grape variety, is valued for the quality of the wines made from it. Assemblage trials with the Pinot noir variety have shown that Divico is suitable for correcting color intensity.
With an area of almost 3900 ha in 2020, Pinot noir is the most commonly cultivated variety in Switzerland. It is widespread in all wine-growing regions north of the Alps. The good reputation is based on the fine and typical bouquet of its wines, which is characterized by fruity notes and a good structure as well as very delicate and velvety tannins. Visually, the color intensity is sometimes judged to be a bit weak. Dyer grapes such as Dakapo and Dunkelfelder are therefore cultivated in Switzerland, and their wines are used in low-percentage blends to improve the color of Pinot noir. With the first red grape variety developed by Agroscope and approved in 2013, which is resistant to downy mildew and powdery mildew as well as gray mold, another variety is available that is suitable for this purpose.
How, please, does VB Cal 1-28 taste? (Article Hotelrevue)
On February 10th, an article by Mischa Stünzi was published in the Hotelrevue. In it he refers to the difficult wine year 2021 in Switzerland and why PIWIs are still having a hard time in gastronomy.
Also an interview with Valentin Blattner (in French)
Mischa Stünzi is the editor of Hotelrevue – www.htr.ch.
AGROVINA press report
Agrovina 2022 - the balance sheet is mixed
After the leading Swiss trade fair for fruit and wine growing, which takes place every two years, was postponed from January to April due to the corona virus, a drop in visitors and exhibitors had to be expected. Now the fair took place from April 5th to 7th. We look back.
Agrovina in Martigny (VS) opened its doors for the 14th time. According to the organizers, around 12,500 visitors visited the 150 exhibitors at this year's Agrovina. If you look at the numbers, you have to speak of a significant decline: minus 4500 visitors, around 70 fewer exhibitor companies than in 2020. However, this trend was expected in advance, as after the announcement of the postponement, some well-known companies suspended their participation and April for many wine and fruit producers are already busy again. Nevertheless, it was a welcome opportunity for the companies involved to overcome the two-year corona lethargy and get back in physical contact with customers. As several operators unanimously believe, this was necessary in view of the uncertain price development in many areas.
Source: Obst- und Weinbau - Die Rote - Switzerland
Benefit from the PIWI boom - podcast from the art of selling wine with Alexander Morandell
In diesem Interview spricht Diego mit dem derzeitigen Präsidenten von PIWI International und Rebveredler Alexander Morandell über das Vermarktungspotenzial der neuen Rebsorten und ihre ökonomischen und gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen auf den Weinbau.
WHAT'S IN THE WINE?
... or the mystery of fermentation
Source: Swiss Magazine for Fruit and Viticulture (SZOW)
Alcoholic fermentation has been known to man for thousands of years. But what lies behind it has only been sufficiently understood in the last two centuries. Andreas Kranz, author of the book "Craft Wine self-made: The big book of fruit wine production", shows what happens during fermentation and why it makes sense for yeast to poison themselves with alcohol.
In scientific nomenclature, baker's yeast, which pleases us with alcoholic fermentation and ensures that bread becomes fluffy, is called Saccharomyces cerevisiae designated. "Saccharomyces" comes from the Greek and literally means "sugar mushroom", "cerevisiae" is Latin and means "of beer". Systematically, it belongs to the Ascomycetes (sac fungi) and, together with the Basidiomycetes (pillar fungi: mushrooms and the like), is one of the higher fungi. Fungi are neither animals nor plants, yet they share characteristics of both. Like plants, they have a cell wall that differs significantly in its structure from the cell wall of plants. Like animals, they cannot photosynthesize, so they are unable to use sunlight as an energy source. But their cells have all the essential components of animal and plant cells: a real cell nucleus and various organelles. Thus, fungi, plant and animal cells belong to the so-called eukaryotes, on the other hand there are the simpler bacteria, also called prokaryotes. The processes within yeast cells are often similar to those of other eukaryotic cells in such a way that baker's yeast, which is easy to cultivate, has established itself as a model organism for so-called "higher cells". Ultimately, knowledge about the function of our cells goes back to research on yeasts.
ETH Zurich viticulture survey 2022 for Swiss
Dear winemakers
We are pleased that you are taking part in this important survey. The survey focuses on your current and future assessments of viticulture in Switzerland. The survey will provide important insights for agricultural practice, extension services and research.
The aim of the study is to find out which factors influence farmers' decisions in terms of variety selection including fungus-resistant varieties, management choices, pest control strategies and distribution channels.
Answering the survey will only about 20-30 minutes take advantage of.
We will raffle among all participants who have completed the questionnaire in full 25 Landi vouchers worth CHF 50 each.
Thank you very much for your participation!
With kind regards,
Lucca Zachmann and Chloe McCallum (ETH Zurich)
If you have any questions, please contact: Lucca Zachmann
Agricultural Economics and Policy Group (AECP)
ETH Zurich
join here
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