Vineyards in Fossalon
25 winemakers attended the second guided visit to the vineyards with the Mother Plants Cuttings of the Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo Fossalon Grado (GO - Italy), which was held, as part of the VISO project, on 27th August 2013, from 14.30 until late afternoon.
The meeting point was organized directly at the vineyards of Fossalon di Grado (Italy), which host the new resistant varieties selected by the University of Udine (PP2-project partner) and the Institute for the Applied Genomics (LP of the project) as part of a joint program for the genetic improvement of the grapevine.
From these grapevines the first wine production was obtained in 2012 and therefore it has been possible to proceed to the relative microvinification that has resulted to be, from the qualitative point of view, entirely comparable to the wines produced from the most traditional and cultivated varieties. As soon as these vines will be enrolled in the national catalog and the cultivation of them will be authorized on various wine-growing areas, it will be possible to realize vineyards through sustainable viticulture and development techniques. In these virgin soils clones are grown under a strict protocol of phytosanitary protection in order to maximize the production of healthy and well lignified mother plants.
The researchers Gabriele Di Gaspero and Simone Diego Castellarin showed to the producers the experimental plot with resistant varieties and illustrated the pest management schedule and the program of defense strategies adopted during the growing season in the field. They also give the opportunity to the producers to examine the level of health of plants, canopies and bunches. In fact, in the course of 2013 resistant varieties were treated or defense against late blight (peronospora) and powdery mildew with only 3 treatments with copper and sulfur. The visit of the germplasm repository of disease resistant grapevine varieties (which carries out the functions of reproduction) has received significant interest and the group went on to consider the agronomic characteristics of resistant varieties and tasted the grapes.
The visit ended with a debate focused on market prospects of these new varieties and their potential for sustainable viticulture.
You can see and download some pictures from here:
A debate during the visit (1.5 MB)
The illustration of the level of health of plants (1.5 MB)
A closely look at the bunches (109.1 KB)
Rauscedo mother plants 
The meeting point in Fossalon
A check between the grapevines 
Bunches and cuttings
