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Touring through italy: day 7

Ashwini Patil Avate

Posted On Friday, February 19, 2010 at 12:26:15 AM

We were on the last leg of our journey across Italy, we had spent the last few days exploring the varied and relatively diverse Italian countryside and now it was down to the last three days.

The group dynamic of our diverse and varied travel mates seemed to be getting better every passing day. I had made it a point to wear Indian clothes on this trip with the idea of building "Brand India"!

Which sure was working. I had carried bindis, bangles and bandhani duppattas which became instantly popular among the girls and soon the entire bus load seemed like they were just back from a visit in India.

Besides wine, we often spoke of our own culture which was rather interesting. Soon I am expecting some of my friends from that class to visit me here in India.

To continue with the journey, we were now in the region of Trentino, which is the northern part of Italy, bordered by Tyrol (Austria) to the north, by Graubunden (Switzerland) to the north-west and by the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto to the west and south, respectively. It is a beautiful hilly terrain with some breathtaking scenery with vineyards planted in the narrow valley.

Our first visit of the day was to an Agricultural Experimental Station S. Michele all’Adige (Trentino). It was interesting to see some in-depth study being carried out in the field of grapevine cultivation.

The next halt was Kellerei Cantina Tramin (Alto Adige). This cooperative winery was founded in 1898 and has now 280 members and total of 230 hectares of land. Located in the province of Trentino Alte Adige, a region traditionally famous for white growing Gewürztraminer, which is still popular today.

This wine area is known for the success of its wine cooperatives. There are many cooperatives that bring together small farmers to compete with the big names of the industry.

The terrain is very hilly with vineyards located at 250 meters to 700 meters. The soil is calcareous and thus give a certain strong character to the wine.

Besides white they also have red wine production with Merlot, Pinot noir and Cabernet sauvignon. They ask the farmers to keep the yield to 6 tonnes/h in order to maintain quality. The cooperative also plays an advisory role and gives consultancy to farmers.

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Touring through italy: day 7

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