As a direct testimony, some thoughts on the Brentonico Plateau, Monte Baldo and the dialogue between viticulture and the mountain landscape. These were the subject of a very interesting conference.
If I told you. Brentonico do I bring anything to mind?
What if I said. Monte Baldo?
If you are from Trentino or Veneto, your reference will probably be outings to the mountains or trips to Lake Garda where Mount Baldo can be seen, in all its height and can be admired from below. From Malcesine, a lakeside town in the province of Verona, you can conveniently reach one of the peaks by cable car. In just a few minutes you will be at a remarkable altitude.
It will then be up to you to decide whether to continue on foot to higher peaks, enjoy the company of Alpacas during the trekking, or simply stop for a meal and a drink at the refuge enjoying the coolness and mountain air. A few meters from the hut is an alpine hut that sells you cheese, butter and cow’s milk ricotta.
If you are like me, and you have fearless friends, you can walk all the way from Malcesine and once you get to the top of the cable car continue on to Trentino, pass through the woods of Brentonico and reach the Altissimo refuge at over 2000 meters above sea level. From there you will enjoy the most beautiful view of Riva del Garda catching a glimpse of many small, unfurled sails moving swiftly dancing on the blue and green waters of Italy’s largest lake.
It will be right there at the top that you will not feel fatigue, rewarded by the view, and you will realize how far you have come and how this mountain, connecting Veneto and Trentino, can give you a melting pot of cultures, crops, flora and fauna as rarely happens. In this naturalistic setting, not surprisingly named the “Garden of Italy,” between about 500 and 700 meters above sea level, the grapevine plant also finds a home.
Mountain screws
It seems that international grape varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot noir find a home here, in addition to some indigenous varieties, which naturally come to maturity developing aromas and sweetnesses that coexist with acidity and pH values perfect for sparkling wine bases by refermentation in the bottle. This, then, is the home of Trentodoc Metodo Classico, the “mountain bubbly” that is growing in numbers and affirmation, meeting with the favor of many palates for its directness and elegance.
On the other hand, if the terroir favors maturation of grapes in the sense of producing centered sparkling wine bases, why not leave room precisely for the refermentations in the bottle? And so we also answer the question of whether it is the method or the terroir that makes the wines. In my opinion, the terroir has given us a great suggestion on what vines to plant and based on how it ripens the grapes it suggests the method. Method, which in turn helps make the territory itself great.
Dialogue between viticulture and mountain landscape
And on the wave of this principle, where everything is connected and nothing is left to chance in October 2024, within the walls of Palazzo Eccheli-Baisi, the dialogue between viticulture and mountain landscape was officially opened with the first, of many, conference about it. A dialogue promoted by the company Albino Armani, among the first to have invested in this area.
Albino Armani, a lover and connoisseur of the mountains as well as a winemaker who hunts for fragile territories, firmly believes this. Brentonico is fertile ground for viticulture both in terms of historicity and climate change. Altitude and thermal inversion phenomena provide solid hope for the future.
Brentonico and Crosara di Brentonico, where Armani has vineyards, are fragile but vocated territories; where viticulture fits into far more complex systems. The vineyards pander to the land, in its slopes and slopesides, dry stone walls and terracing manage to create the illusion of being flat.
Thermal excursions and ventilation reign supreme, the nature of the soils is basaltic. Volcanic soil is an additional advantage for vines. Rich in minerals, fertile soil for organic matter, ability to retain water due to innate porosity. Circumscribed territory with distinguishable and measurable characteristics.
A very informative conference
We understood this during the conference thanks to speeches by men of science such as. Attilio Scienza, Andrea Faustini, Cavit winemaker, and Duilio Porro, FEM agronomist. Ma la scienza ha saputo essere anche umanistica, grazie all’intervento al convegno di figure come Alessandro de Bertolini, Trentino Historical Museum Foundation, and to the producers themselves who first and foremost wanted to share their sense of belonging to the area.
Precisely this sense of belonging in my opinion is the key word for the correct reading of the territory itself. Recognizing oneself in the territory incentivizes knowledge and appreciation of it. The following have spoken on this subject Albino Armani himself, but also Elisabetta Foradori, Giacomo and Diana from Sondelaite, Luca Cavallaro for Ferrari Trento, and Paolo Endricci for Endrizzi, a company that still has no products from this area but has invested in new land right here.
The two “lessons” to be learned
During this first conference therefore, which aimed to give voice to a valuable place, in many ways, two things I will take home with me.
The first is that it is important for entrepreneurs and winemakers to invest in the territory itself, especially if it is capable of delivering results in viticulture such that its name spreads throughout Italy and the world.
The second that it is good that, in turn, winemakers and entrepreneurs take the time to invest their energies in dialogue with the land. Because if land and vineyards can be bought, the knowledge, and know-how, of the locals is priceless.
TO READ THE WINE DESCRIPTIONS, WITH SCORE AND AVERAGE SHELF PRICE, CLICK ON THE TABS BELOW.
TASTINGS
