Alois Winery in Campania Italy

Alois Clemens & Helena Lageder 

From:tenuta@aloislageder.eu

To:silvios@aol.com

Fri, Sep 27 at 8:01 AM

Our vision comes to life As of 2024, all our vineyards, including those of our 60 vintner partners across Alto Adige, are being cultivated solely with organic or biodynamic methods. At the same time, we are introducing the 'value system', which forms the basis for the cooperation with our vintner partners from the 2024 harvest. It emphasizes values like sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and soil fertility, serving as the basis for the economic evaluation of our partners' work, which in turn determines the price of their grapes. It still feels unreal, but we did it! 2024 is a special year for us, because beyond our family run estates, with this year's harvest all vineyards of our  60 vintner partners now employ organic or biodynamic farming techniques.When we transitioned our own vineyards to biodynamic practices back in 2004, we could only dream of the day that our vintner partners would join us in this healthy form of agriculture that respects nature and the environment. The idea that so many of those supplying us with grapes would adopt similar practices seemed almost unbelievable. Yet, two decades later, this dream has become reality. With the 2024 harvest, not only our 55 hectares (136 acres) but an additional 85 hectares (210 acres) of partner vineyards are farmed organically or biodynamically, totaling 140 hectares (346 acres). We are both happy and proud to have achieved this milestone together with our vintner partners and staff. The new grape “value system”  We are excited to announce that starting with the 2024 harvest, we will introduce a fresh approach to evaluating the work and grapes of our vintner partners, centered around healthy farming practices. Our new value system emphasises ecological responsibility, sustainability and biodiversity in the vineyard. It no longer makes sense for us to mainly focus on the sugar levels of our vintner partners' grapes, but rather to take greater account of their work, their commitment to the environment and to healthy agriculture. Especially for our stilistic, which focuses on freshness, liveliness, and vibrancy, we need specific guidelines to ensure our partners can produce the grapes required for our wines. This is also becoming increasingly important in light of the changing climate. How does the value system work in practice? The “value system”, which we have developed together with some of our partners is based on the five pillars soil, plant, animal, human and market. Initiatives such as cover cropping, hedge planting, gentle pruning and livestock integration are encouraged and financially rewarded. All partners work organically or biodynamically, in addition they can decide how far they want to go in the five areas and which values they want to implement. The parameters are designed to serve as both a guide and a support system, enhancing awareness of practices that can further improve vineyard health. In addition to these parameters, which relate to the cultivation of the vineyards, there are site-specific or market-dependent criteria, such as location, slope, grape varieties, etc., which are evaluated separately. The value system sets in motion a development process that enables everyone to achieve the specified goals step by step. These are linked to an economic and transparent evaluation, which results in the price for the respective grapes. The cooperation with our vintner partners is based on trust and dialogue. The assessment of how well the criteria are met is conducted annually in collaboration with our agricultural team, including field inspections and ongoing communication. The new system is still in its early stages, and we plan to refine and evolve it continuously over the next few years in collaboration with our vintner partners. It represents a significant and vital shift towards placing an even greater emphasis on healthy agriculture and collaborative relationships with our partners. Downloads and information The Value System What does healthy agriculture mean to us? Booklet „Diversity is key" Winery Alois Lageder - Vicolo dei Conti 9 Magrè, 39040, Italy Unsubscribe or Manage Preferences