Organic viticulture: high quality wine grapes production
Organic viticulture: Moser Filippo and Giancarlo Agricultural Company
The Moser Filippo and Giancarlo Agricultural Company of Pressano di Lavis (Trentino, Italy) is a vineyard and fruit farm specialised in organic cultivation of wine grapes for the production of high-quality wines for the domestic and international markets. The company also produces organic apples (Royal Gala, Golden and Stark Delicious, Morgen and Fuji) for consortia.
The organic vineyards grown witn BioAksxter®: Teroldego grape variety, Trentino regiono
The vineyard area is almost entirely organic certified, and the other plots even if not certified organic are cultivated in the same way. The entire viticultural production is spread over about 10 hectares cultivated with the Guyot system, located both in hilly areas and at the valley bottom. The cultivated grapevine varieties are:
- Pinot Grigio
- Chardonnay
- Nosiola
- Riesling
- Schiava Gentile
- Traminer Aromatico
- Merlot
- Teroldego
- Cabernet
Secular Schiava vineyard (1926), autumn 2017
Vineyard management in organic farming: BIOAKSXTER® since 2002
The management approach to viticulture is based on re-establishing the vineyard balance and then maintaining the balance over time increasing the soil productivity and improving the quality of the grapes, through the use of BioAksxter® that has been used since 16 years. The biological balance achieved in the vineyard, both in regard to the environmental context and also the cultivations themselves has sparked the interest of scholars, agronomists and farmers.
The outstanding quality achieved over the years, has been obtained thanks to the right management of the organic vineyard and the agronomic operations, despite the widespread trend of viticultural productions increasingly affected by compromising climatic events.
Teroldego grapes grown with BioAksxter®
Vintage 2017
The 2017 growing season in Trentino Alto Adige region has been archived among those troubled seasons, above all because of frosts during spring and hailstorms in summer never seen before, not even senior farmers ever remember similar events. Despite the weather extremes, the Moser Agricultural Company vineyards were not compromised not even in regards to the phytosanitary state, with no damages nor economic losses.
Vintage 2016 and 2017 comparison
The qualitative-quantitative ratio of the Moser farm’s productions was remarkable, characterised by significant sugar content and at the same time by high acidity, a very high tannic and polyphenolic components for the red grapes and high aromatic components for the white ones. There is no coincidence that the wines produced with the organic grapes of the Moser Agricultural Company have been awarded and recognised internationally.
The organic viticulture and the organic vineyard: agronomic management practices
According to the statement made by the Agricultural Expert Giancarlo Moser, BioAksxter® is much more than a fertiliser: all the advantages it deliver allow the farmers to significantly reduce the number of farming operations, the crop protection applications and as consequence the management costs.
Confronto dati produttivi 2016 e 2017
No other fertilisers have been used in the Moser farm since 2002. This determined an optimal balance of the vineyards with reduced time and costs needed for pruning, tying, peeling and topping, as well as the grassing of the rows and the inter-rows.
Another advantage is the lack of need for irrigation: the combination between the soil structure and the development of a deep root system allows the vines to overcome any stress conditions without water issues, promoting productivity and quality.
Organic viticulture with BioAksxter®
The defence of the organic vineyard
An important aspect that deserves to be highlighted is that the Moser farm simplified the anti-cryptogamic defence of the vineyard due to the use of BioAksxter®, its action increases the autoimmunity defences of the vines. Unlike what happen in the nearby properties, the Moser farm has been maintaining an excellent health state of the grapes using only sulfur and copper applications, and make about 30-40% less phytosanitary treatments than other farms. In the organic vineyards of the valley bottom, in 2017, the company carried out 11 interventions against 16-17 of the other wineries. Instead in the hill vineyards, 5 treatments based on copper and 2 with ventilated-sulfur were done compared to the 11-12 interventions performed by the other farmers.
The vine treatments are mostly carried out by hand, both to reduce soil compaction and also to concentrate the products only on the vines. Another important note is about the limited use of copper metal, only 1.7 kg/hectare/year against the ceiling of 6 kg/ha allowed by European legislation which, however, are not sufficient to regulate the organic farming practices.
Organic cultivation of wine grapes: a winning choice
The decision to use BioAksxter® in viticulture has been proved to be a highly profitable investment for the Moser Agricultural Company. The action of Bio Aksxter® explicated over the years has led to an optimal balance of the vineyards, both in regard of the soil and the vegetative aspect: increase of the resistance and resilience, notable reduction of technical and agronomic interventions, in particular, the phytosanitary ones and high-quality grape productions.