The climate changes, the market evolves, the taste of consumers, the technique, and the style of the wines we produce. How many changes has the Italian wine system undergone in the last 90 years? The Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo have been able to intercept and predict them all, remaining an essential reference point first for Italian viticulture and then for international viticulture.

The need to react to crises

Today, the Italian vineyard is going through a new important turning point. The intertwining of three crises (climatic, inflationary, and geopolitical) requires a rapid capacity for adaptation. Winemakers are aware of this, but the direction to take is not clear. In this climate of uncertainty, which also involves some of the most suitable areas of our viticulture, Gianluca Cavicchioli, director of the Agricultural Union of Siena, meets Alessandro Leon, president of Vcr, to learn the secret of the longevity and liveliness of our reality and to glean some indications regarding the horizons that await us. The result is the interview published "apertis verbis" (in explicit words) on the Upa di Siena website.

Vcr is indeed seen as a unique example of mutuality, awareness, foresight, and predisposition to technical innovation. A strength that, as Leon explains, originates from the strong difficulties that characterized the Friulian territory and agriculture between the two world wars. "Yet our reality - recalls the president of Vcr - has maintained over the years a trend of growth and innovation that makes it what it is today: a world leader in the production and commercialization of vine propagation material."

Investing in innovation

"The VCR were the first architects of the development of new techniques for the processing of grapevines because, being a highly specialized and niche activity, through experience and experimentation, they created new techniques to improve yields and production."

Some examples include the use of facilitators in the field, mulching systems, the use of paraffin, or research on new grafting techniques (no longer a double English splice, but initially executed with a notch, then moving on to the omega graft). An attention to innovation that has led to investments in the creation of the VCR Research Center, the research center where the vine of the future is taking shape.

At the same time, VCR has started various collaborations with research institutes, one of which is with the University of Udine, for the creation of varieties resistant to the main fungal diseases (downy mildew and powdery mildew) capable of combining wine quality, environmental sustainability, and profitability for producers.

Bureaucracy to streamline

"The wine sector - admits Leon - is going through a very delicate and complex phase, both due to the economic crisis and the impact of climate change, which brings a difficult productive alternation to manage."

"For this reason - is the president's recommendation - institutions should collaborate with the entire supply chain to streamline the bureaucratic burdens that currently, for example, slow down the introduction of new varieties within the specifications of protected origin productions." "The goal should instead be to give new opportunities to Italian viticulture - Focusing on innovation born and developed in our country is, in fact, the best way to preserve identity and uniqueness."