Full house at the Castle of San Salvatore in Susegana, tonight, for the events of the 60th anniversary of the Consortium for the protection of Prosecco Docg Conegliano Valdobbiadene. Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto region, congratulating himself on “the almost one billion bottles of the three consortia”, launched two appeals. The first: the fight against flavescence must be tightened, respecting the protocols, therefore also explanting the infected plants, but “if necessary it will be necessary to use more energetic chemical products”. The second: «There is a temptation to abandon extreme vineyards, heroic viticulture, but if we lose them, we would give up the heart of Prosecco».
The public tonight at the Castle of San Salvatore
A good 200 guests, all the best names in bubbles and supporting institutions. Regina she, the president Elvira Bortolomiol, very happy tonight, together with colleagues from the other consortia, because from Qatar, the prohibitionist Muslim country that hosts the soccer World Cup, comes the confirmation that the wine market has exceeded 243% this year and Prosecco represents 20% of sales. And then many other positives. Before going up to the castle, the president and the director Diego Tomasi in fact gave another confirmation: that yesterday the DOCG reached 89% of the bottling and that therefore it could end the year equaling the record of 104 million bottles last year, despite the difficult year, with the initial months registering +50% and others, such as September, -30%.
President Luca Zaia tonight at the Prosecco Docg party
The increase in the price per bottle has recovered the higher cost of raw materials and energy, but – Tomasi specified – it has not affected the market, so now there could be some adjustments to increase the value. There has also been talk of a merger but both Zaia and Bortolomiol have shelved the prospect, instead hoping for closer collaboration.
«Our territory, our community are precious gifts and it is for them – says the president Bortolomiol – that we have the duty to make the most of our knowledge and the resources we have available in order to be able to offer a concrete contribution to our territory and be a point of reference also for other realities». We were talking about the difficulties that Prosecco, but it’s not the only one, had to face this year, from drought to flavescence. “On the drought front, something concrete is already starting – Tomasi assured – focusing attention on the recovery, conservation and reuse of rain and spring water”. In fact, in the fifth supply chain tender presented a few days ago, a specific and substantial funding was provided for the construction of small basins to collect the runoff water. Furthermore, the recovery of the derivation water from the Piave river will be proposed. Another important issue in the field of sustainability is land use, which will be addressed by the Green Academy through the structuring of a permanent observatory. To date, 30% of the Denomination’s surface is used for viticulture, 57% for woodland, 9% for other uses and 4% for urban use. There is therefore still a rich biodiversity, for which a mobility system that completely excludes the transport of goods on large vehicles and on traditional traction vehicles is already being studied.
And then a completely new idea, that of the Wine Tourism Lab with the dual purpose of acting as a glue between the various professional figures of the area and at the same time creating greater awareness in young people of the wider opportunities that this area will offer in the coming years. “Always focusing on quality, and at the same time taking care of the image of the product, means protecting the entire territory of the production area and its landscape recognized as a world heritage site since 2019″ is the wish of Tommaso Razzolini, Fdi regional councilor. “Now the biggest challenge passes exclusively from sustainability without hesitation: integrated pest management and reduced use of agropharmaceuticals, protection of the Unesco territory from erosion, environmentally friendly processing techniques such as mulches, biodegradable binding threads” says Matteo Favero, Head of Agriculture of the Pd.