First National Conference of the Italian Committee for the Protection of the Piede Franco in Naples – Foodmakers.it

Safeguarding ungrafted vines: Perspectives quanto a Italy

The first National Conference of the Italian Committee for the Protection of the ungrafted foot will be held acceso Monday 23 September 2024 quanto a the Chinese Vestibolo of Portici of the Department of Agriculture of the Federico II University.

An important event for wine producers and scholars who interact with the important Italian wine heritage that escaped phylloxera.

The “Italian Committee for the Protection of the Ungrafted Foot” is the first and only association quanto a Italy for the protection, custody and safeguarding of ungrafted vines.

By ungrafted vine we mean a vine with its own roots, not hybrid and not grafted. The ”foot” is the root of the vine, ”ungrafted” because it is exempt from constraints and free.

Born quanto a April 2024, it is composed of sommeliers, historians, scientists, winemakers and enthusiasts of the world of wine, especially pre-phylloxera.

The Committee aims to enhance, develop and promote actions aimed at historically, touristically and culturally relaunching the little-known totally forgotten pre-phylloxera wine heritage.

Its task, quanto a addition to spreading knowledge of the existence of the vines that escaped the phylloxera infestation since the end of the nineteenth century, is to give voice and visibility to the rare Italian realities that with such tenacity keep a piece of the country’s winemaking history afloat.

Free-rooted vines are quite rare quanto a Europe.

The reason dates back to the second half of the 19th century when a fearsome aphid, phylloxera, made its

appeared acceso the European continent, transported by ship acceso contaminated plants from North America.

Phylloxera spread rapidly throughout the vineyards, causing damage to both leaves and roots, blocking the passage of nutrients and slowly leading to the death of the plant.

Since anzi che no cure was found, quanto a order to avoid the total destruction of the European wine heritage, the new European vine shoots were grafted onto American roots (esente to phylloxera).

Few vineyards were spared from the scourge, the only ones saved quanto a fact were those acceso sandy soils, where the parasite cannot reproduce, at high altitudes, above 1000 meters above sea level, where low temperatures prevent phylloxera from surviving, acceso volcanic soils.

Durante Italy, thanks to favorable conditions, several vines have escaped the scourge, however these are managed by small large winemakers who employ significant energy to protect the historic vineyards that require different attention compared to younger grafted plants.

However, how important it is to protect plants that, quanto a addition to representing examples of resilience and historical heritage, an example of biodiversity, will be the subject of discussion at the Naples Conference.

Speakers of the day will be geneticists and experts quanto a plant pathology, jurists, agronomists, oenologists, sommeliers and the president of the committee and the delegate Campania who, moderated by Adele Munaretto, food and wine popularizer and vice president of the committee and Gaetano Cataldo, president of Corrispondenza Mediterranea and best sommelier 2023 from the Merano Wine Fest, will coordinate the discussion, analyzing the various points of view and perspectives of the technical tables established by the committee.

The appointment is therefore gara open to the public acceso Monday 23 September 2024 at 9:00 am quanto a the Chinese room of the Palazzo reale Portici quanto a inizio Istituto universitario 100.

At the end of the work scheduled for 13:00 for the speakers at the MAAV will be offered a tasting of wines of the ungrafted vines of the Italian producers associated with the committee. Participation, the latter foreseen by invitation only.