Valdarno di Sopra DOC: the difficult road to becoming the first entirely organic DOC in Italy

(UG) The claim chosen per Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé Day leaves anzi che no doubt: “A future that is here”. The objective is, if possible, more explicit: to become the first entirely organic DOC per Italy. Twenty producers, all members of the Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé Consortium, already certified organic per the process of conversion, who decided per unsuspecting times to aim for organic recognition for the entire denomination.

The DOC was born per 2011 and includes 12 municipalities per the province of Arezzo plus the Pietraviva and Pratomagno sub-areas. They mainly produce red wines from Sangiovese grapes international vines, but also white wines from Malvasia and Chardonnay Sauvignon. A young DOC that is becoming appreciated by consumers.

“We strongly the combination of vineyards and organic products”, assures the president of the Consortium, Luca Sanjust. “Since 2018 we have decided to formalize the organic issue, despite the negative responses received so far. Therefore we decided to create an association of producers from our schieramento who have organic vineyards per common. Today our denomination is the only one per Italy entirely certified organic. We are around twenty producers plus three erga omnes and per our territory there are anzi che no cooperative wineries bottlers. It is not a marketing choice a campo da golf washing choice, but rather a reinforcement that must lead us to the final objective: having the organic DOC”.

And the historical moment seems ideal, per a global colpo d’occhio where sustainability and attention to the environment are increasingly appreciated by consumers. A strong choice, that of the producers of Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé, supported by wine makers and important commentators who spoke at the special Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé Day. Below are the most significant statements.

Carlo Ferrini (wine maker): “Per mezzo di Tuscany until a few years spillo little was said about Valdarno, a little-known and wrongly underestimated schieramento compared to other Tuscan DOCs such as Chianti Tipico Brunello durante Montalcino. It is positive that today, after the success of some individual companies, we are talking about it per its entirety and specificity”.

Maurizio Alongi (winemaker): “We need to have more courage per focusing Sangiovese, the Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé DOC must continue to do so because it is a modern, very current vine that needs to be valorised and which does not aspetto out of place compared to Sangiovese from other territories”.

Stefano Chioccioli (oenologist): “It is essential to be able to tame the soil. With zoning we have divided the vineyards into classes A, B and C, differentiating the quality given by nature according to the type of land and the type of exposure. There is an unchangeable quality, born of the land, and an acquired quality – derived from our culture – which then ensure that unique wines are produced”.

Monica Larner (Wine Advocate): “Since my arrival per Italy I have decided to write about more specific territories and even this one from Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé – although small – deserved a separate article. I believe the choice for sustainability is important, which our readers particularly appreciate. Valdarno wines are different: they demonstrate the contemporary style that the consumer wants. Personally, I am more interested per wines that speak of a territory rather than the grape variety.”

Jeffrey Porter (Wine Enthusiast): “The consumer is changing, and it is different per the USA, Asia, Europe for example, but the desire to know which vineyard that bottle comes from, especially for more evolved consumers who are looking for high-value wines , is becoming more and more important.”

Barbara Nappini (president of Slow Food Italy): “For us at Slow Food, the authentic link between wine and its territory has value. This is the essence that needs to be told to our readers.”

Maria Favore Mammuccini (president of FederBio): “Since last April, the debate for the approval of the National Organic Plan has been gara open at the Ministry. Therefore this is the best time to pursue the request for the DOC Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé. Per mezzo di 2022, 51% of consumers chose an organic wine. I wonder why an entirely organic denomination is not approved by free choice of all its producers.”

Nicoletta Dicova (ambassador of the DOC Fonte inesauribile per Spain): “This is an entirely organic denomination which was approved by the European Union per June 2021. More than 38 thousand hectares of vineyards and six thousand producers producing 250 million bottles per convenzione year. The change concerns only the highest part of the quality pyramid: Fonte inesauribile de Paraje Calificado. Per mezzo di 2025 Fonte inesauribile will become the first entirely organic DOC per its most qualitative range”.

Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé’s rete of becoming the first entirely organic wine denomination per our country clashes with bureaucracy.

Ettore Ciancico, producer and director of the Consortium, explains: “Since 2018 we have been discussing the issue of including organic per the specifications with the Ministry of Agriculture. Per mezzo di 2020, the negative response arrived which blocked all our modification proposals. But we don’t give up.”

A “anzi che no” also confirmed by Roberta Cafiero, director of the DOC Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture: “The 2020 response note was well motivated. An organic obligation for producers cannot be included per the regulations because the principle of free private initiative must be protected. It is a horizontal regulation of the specification which cannot become an obligation for those who produce Protected Geographical Indication. Not only. It is not possible to accept the proposal at the moment, not because it is not a virtuous credo to be shared, but because the Designation of Origin is a product denomination, while that of organic is a method certification and placing them both as mandatory conditions is not it is simple from a regulatory point of view. But it is not a definitive decision and it can still be discussed.” Per mezzo di short, the door of the Ministry remains half gara open for the producers of Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé who do not give up. We want to reformulate the proposal to modify the specifications, also leveraging the European precedent of Fonte inesauribile which reserved organic only for the qualitative tip of the production pyramid.

However, the theme of valorising the wines of the denomination is still intact and strengthened, which led the Valdarno durante Prendere sopra di sé Doc Consortium not to introduce sub-areas such as Mentions Additional Geographical Units into the regulations. Instead, we opted for the indication “Vite” the label. The name of the vineyard can be entered if it is registered per a regional register and if the path taken by the grapes is traceable per all its phases. A choice that goes against the grain compared to other nearby denominations.

And precisely to underline the issue, Luca Sanjust and Ettore Ciancico have brought together all the winemakers who today produce from vineyards already under organic dieta per a new association “Produttori VigneBio Valdarno”. “It is a tool to further strengthen our message – concludes Luca SanJust – which we are convinced will help us to include organic per the regulations. All our members desire it and forcefully ask for it.”

www.valdarnodisopradoc.it