What If the Time to Change Viticulture Had Come?

 I have been thinking about this for some time, many years, actually. This thought returned to my mind again as soon as the first news began to spread regarding the estimates of the 2023 harvest. Predictions which, notoriously, came true, followed by the understandable, yet inevitable, complaints of producers almost everywhere in Italy, not least, also in other European wine-growing countries. The conditions of the recent harvest were decidedly critical compared to the past years, even in those which generated particular discontent, so much so that it was defined as among the worst in recent decades. When climate and adverse weather conditions produce negative effects on crops, in that case there is obviously very little that can be done. When events of this type occur – exactly like all those caused by Mother Nature – even when they are predictable, it is difficult to remedy them. In case of hail, for example, farmers close their eyes and cross their fingers, waiting, with quite an apprehension, the calm after the storm to come.

 If we take a closer look to history, as can be easily seen from past events, man – in implementing the systematic cultivation of plants for his own food, cultural, economic and social purposes – has always had to deal with the inevitable events of nature while trying to get the most out of it. This, we can say without fear of contradiction, has been happening since man invented agriculture. Ultimately, it is a scrupulous process of selection, and not natural at all, in which man constantly and exclusively commits himself to the cultivation of the “healthiest” plants, capable of guaranteeing a profitable harvest, discarding those which are not very resistant to diseases or which have poor production characteristics. We can think, for example, of what has been done for wheat, as well as other plants and vegetables, in times not even so distant. Such as the vast and important selection operations which took place in the 1900s in Italy, carried out above all by Nazareno Strampelli and Francesco Todaro, which made it possible to “create” various crossbreeds and varieties – not just wheat – with the sole purpose of improving disease resistance, better productivity and cultivation.

 This process originated a long series of wheat – which today in Italy are returning “in fashion” with the evocative classification of ancient grains – and which were essentially the result of necessity, not only agricultural, but also social and with the aim of fighting hunger and poverty. This selection process – and not just for wheat – is still adopted and implemented for every plant destined to agriculture, also by using methods completely similar to those used by Nazareno Strampelli and Francesco Todaro for the creation of what we today call ancient grains, certainly the fruit of man's genius and intelligence, certainly not of nature, although it was evidently indispensable to this process. Despite this may arouse the disappointment of some, including the disbelief of certain “purists”, what was done is just plain genetic improvement, both by resorting to the crossing technique and through genealogical selection and of hybridization, giving life to varieties that – as a matter of fact – did not exist in nature.

 The success was enormous and the result of that research practically “populated” the Italian fields destined for wheat, relieving farmers from the many worries of past years in terms of cultivation, disease resistance and productivity. I have always been convinced that, as far as viticulture and wine are concerned, conducting an operation similar to that of Nazareno Strampelli and Francesco Todaro, with the aim of improving the vine, would spark an endless and fierce crusade – as often happens in Italy – in support of the sacred defense of holy traditions “because it has always been done this way and this is how it must be in saecula saeculorum” (in an age of ages). Yet, our wise grandparents and great-grandparents – that is, those who gave life to our untouchable traditions – had no difficulty in adopting and cultivating the new varieties of wheat and not only that. If we think about it, their primary need was not to go on crusades, rather the practical sense of survival, having to choose between eating or starving, in addition to the desolation of lodged wheat fields or poor harvests caused by stem rust, with all due respect to the ancient grains of their grandparents.

 It is said that man has a poor memory and tends to quickly forget – for his own defense, perhaps for opportunity reasons and presumption – the events of the past, therefore not learning anything, and for this reason condemned to repeat the same mistakes. Today, in fact, in the viticultural sector, for years we have witnessed the strenuous defense of the “ancient” varieties of wine grapes, promoted as authentic guards and bulwarks of the identity of a territory and its most ancient and sacred traditions. Who knows if the humble vine, in the quiet and placid calm of the vineyard, is aware of the enormous responsibility attributed to it for the keeping and perpetuation of the identity of each territory. Including those varieties that have practically disappeared since decades and brought back to the wine scene, without perhaps wondering why our grandparents – that is the very same ones who invented our untouchable traditions – had abandoned them and replaced with other varieties. Perhaps they were unwise and rather foolish grandparents, unaware of the value of what they had in the vineyard, disdaining and throwing away the precious jewels to replace them with miserable and cheap costume jewelry.

 Memory, I was saying. Today we probably never consider that, at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, an epochal change occurred in viticulture in Europe and that – as a matter of fact – erased forever the “purity” of the ancient varieties of wine grapes. Phylloxera, in fact, caused unprecedented devastation, forcing man to quickly look for a solution, before the European vine disappeared, and forever, from the vineyards. As is well known, the solution – still adopted today and irreplaceable – was to graft phylloxera-resistant root stocks to the European varieties. The vine was saved, but if we were purists to the core, as many do, convinced of defending their historical identity, all the varieties of grapes grown today are not exactly the same of those of times gone by. Except in very rare cases, so rare that they can be considered almost non-existent and in which environmental conditions unfavorable to phylloxera occur, “native” varieties with an “alien” root stock are cultivated in all the vineyards of Europe. It was an obligatory, necessary and inevitable choice, since the alternative was to give up the cultivation of vines. The remarkable result of man's genius, certainly against nature, which would never have grafted a root stock of an American grape variety into a European one. However, man did it and won the war against phylloxera, which continues to live in European vineyards without however causing harm.

 In the last harvest, as is known, the grapes were severely compromised due to downy mildew, a vine disease that is generally prevented and treated with copper-based products, particularly copper sulfate. Although it is the remedy already used by our grandparents – exactly like sulfur to combat powdery mildew – therefore traditional, one cannot help but observe that copper is a heavy metal, considered highly harmful to the soil, as well as toxic to organisms living underground. Downy mildew is just one example and those who grow vines know well that, in addition to this, every year they are also called upon to deal with and prevent other pathologies, resorting to specific phytosanitary treatments with more or less significant impacts on the environment, the soil and, last but not least, man. The events of recent years, no less, highlight the progressive increase in the intensity of the effects of certain diseases, together with the decrease in rainfall, should make us think about the fact the current grape varieties are no longer suitable for the environmental conditions of these times and, perhaps, they will be less and less so.

 The decrease in rainfall and the rise in temperatures that have regularly occurred in recent years, regardless of the cause – climate changes resulting from human behavior or otherwise – will certainly not be “solved” in a few years, provided they can however be solved. The intensification of vine pathologies necessarily requires preventive and phytosanitary interventions in ways that are evidently different from what was done in the past. In the case of downy mildew, which caused extensive damage in 2023, it is not even conceivable – for those who make use of this remedy – of intensifying the spraying of copper sulphate or other specific products. In this regard, since the mid-1800s, with a strong impulse in the 1950s, attempts have been made to remedy this through crossing and pollination of resistant varieties, together with genetic selection, leading to the creation of the PIWI varieties (from the German Pilzwiderstandfähig, literally “fungus-resistant”). It may be a solution, perhaps not the only one, but concrete as well as available, and – from my personal experience – the wines produced with these varieties have decidedly interesting sensorial and enological characteristics.

 Perhaps the time has come to think, for example, about the genetic improvement of modern varieties – also through cisgenesis and the so-called genome editing, two techniques which are currently not permitted by European regulations – in order to make them resistant to the most common pathologies and drought. I am referring, obviously and solely, to genetic improvement – a technique that has been used for years with various vegetables and, as mentioned before, widely used with wheat at the beginning of the last century – and not to transgenic mutation. After all, viticulture had already undergone a drastic and epochal change in the early 1900s due to phylloxera and had to adapt to its presence, forever changing the vine in European vineyards, yet ensuring the keeping of its existence. Perhaps the time has come to make a new drastic and epochal change so as to guarantee the survival and sustainability of viticulture, as well as of wine. Selection and genetic improvement would allow us to have the same varieties we know today, yet capable of resisting the most common pathologies and drought. Furthermore, this would have the advantage of considerably limiting phytosanitary treatments in the vineyard, while guaranteeing – at the same time – healthier grapes and, therefore, better quality wines. As well as less polluted soils.