History

How wine conquered the Oltradige region

Wine is a historical semiluxury food. About 8000 years ago the first fermented juice was drunk in Persia and Mesopotamia. Wine has always been a popuar drink and is also considered to be the drink of gods. Also today wine is a very popular beverage. In several areas, also in South Tyrol, people started to dedicate themselves to agriculture and manufacturing.

In South Tyrol the climate is perfect for cultivating good types of wine. The Alps prevent raw climate from reaching this area, whereas warm air comes from the south and favours the cultivation of flavourful grapes. Did you know that grapes need a tempertaure of 15 degrees or more to ripe?

South Tyrol is one of the oldest wine growing areas in the German-speaking area. Findings and pictures testify that already 5 centuries b.c. people enjoyed drinking wine in this area.

In the 1st century b.c. the vine came to the upper Valle dell’Adige. Probably the Illyrians brought the new plant into the country. About one and a half centuries b.c. the Raetians used to store the wine in wooden containers instead of stoneware jugs.

In Middle Ages the monasteries and church institutions where those to practise the viniculture and who got their best wines from South Tyrol.

In the 19th century the grape mildew and leaf spot, which attacks the plants, was “imported” from America. In addition at the turn of the century, there was also the vine pest. In this period of time the winegrowing sector experienced its greatest crisis. For this reason the acreage has been drastically reduced.

The second word war, however, represented another setback for this sector. After WWII, for the winegrowers it was time to develop new ideas and to somwhow boom the wine growing sector. Different types of wine, particularly the “Schiava” was a type of wine which was very popular abroad. This wine, which is a very light one, was cultivated in the most vineyards and was also very well sold.

Since the ninetees winegrowers and wine consortiums increasingly put more emphasis on quality than on quantity. Different types of wine were cultivated and adapted to the soil. The cultivation was better organised, planned and channeled in order to maintain best quality.

Today, in the third millenium, there are about 5,000 hectares in South Tyrol, about 1,100 of which only in Appiano. This market town in the Oltradige occupies the greatest area of vineyards in South Tyrol. Already for centuries the wineries of Appiano convinced with their sophisticated wines.

Also in Caldaro the cult of the wine village has become very important. “Wein.kaltern” is the consortium which cares about the creative market management of the huge variety of wines in the village.