VCR |
VCR |
Rauscedo is a small town north of Pordenone just inside Friuli, an hour and a half from Venice. We have been wanting to pay them a visit after pilgrimages to Geisenheim, Geilweilerhof, Freiburg, Geneva NY and INRA Montpellier. These visits have been immensely exciting. Go if you can, especially if as in this case you can taste micro-vinifications of the grapes they have obtained through hybridisation, crossing etc.
Our trip originated in Venice taking one of the earlier No1.vaporettos down the Grand Canal to the Ferrovia. In any circumstances, one of the great journeys of the world but at 07.00 especially magical.
A pleasant rail journey passing through Conegliano, birthplace of Lorenzo da Ponte and centre of Glera production.
an awful lot of Glera really.
Rauscedo is a village a few Km from Casarsa and it was good to leave all thoughts of Prosecco behind, arriving at the Vivai Cooperativi where literally thousands of different varieties are produces in this vast vine nursery.
Our charming and knowledgeable guide was Dr. Stefano Battistella, Export Sales Manager.
The VCR brochure states
The “tale” of Rauscedo began in 1933 when in this small village of the province of Pordenone, in the region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, some families formed a cooperative that would become the greatest grape-growing concern in the world. This tale is still going on thanks to the work of 250 coopertive members who have another very important task: to guarantee the availability of a perfect product under the morphological, genetic and sanitary point of view in more than 30 wine-producing countries served by this company, a perfect product under morphologic, genetic and sanitary profile. Thanks to a potential of 1,200 hectares of nursery and 1,400 hectares of rootstocks, VCR is capable of producing over 80 million grafted vines subdivided into more than 4,000 combinations, The extent of nursery grounds, the very good climate, the members' high know-how allow to obtain the average yield of first choice grafted vines amounting to 75% with peaks exceeding 90%. These targets are unthinkable elsewhere. In almost 90 years of activity Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo has become far and away the most important grapevine nursery in the world.
hangar |
hanger |
The place is vast. It has to be. 85 million vines are sold from here each year, in Italy and all over the world including countries one might not expect such as Poland and Russia.
including some Pinot Nero |
Bunches are shipped to the southern hemisphere during our northern hemisphere summer.
cold store |
Schioppettino |
waxes |
Here and there evidence of ongoing research and development as here with different waxes for grafting.
Then on to what was for us perhaps the most fascinating area, the facility for micro-vinification.
Here were tanks of various sizes
50l. |
Damigiani also |
babies |
Outside we visited an enormous building for the propagation of baby vines.
one of many unending avenues |
to see the experimental vines in their later stages of development we had to hop into Stefano's car
all vines are irrigated and fed by unseen sources |
building for the future |
tasting room with temperature controlled cabinets |
Back indoors we were ushered into the exquisite tasting room where Stefano selected several desease-resistant varietal wines he considered relevant to the climate in the South of England.
Sauvignon Nepsis and Sauvignon Rytos were unmistakenly Sauvignons but we were looking for something different.
We were tremendously excited to have found it in this. Soreli ('sun' in Friulian dialect) is from Tocai Friulano or Friulano as we must now call it. It has a very early ripening time in Rauscedo - August 22nd. This microvinification produced a wine of 13.2% Abv with 6.2 acid and 3.3 PH readings. The wine is delicate and floral. We have decided to grub up our 25 year old Bacchus and replant with Soreli next year. This may be one of the first if not the very first planting of Soreli (or any Rauscedo clone?) in the UK.
We were also offered tastings of Sauvignon Kretos (ripening time August 11th!), Merlot Khorus (August 31st), Cabernet Volos ('average' ripening time) and the following clones so far without names;
VCR 109.052 (ripened 30th August)
VCR156.312 (11th October)
VCR 156.537 (5th October)
All fascinating. The VCR 156.537 (from Pinot Noir) was especially good. We have already replanted our red block with the Blattner Cabernet Noir so were only looking for a white variety.
It had been kind of Stefano to open so many bottles. We asked him what would happen to them after our departure. He answered with a shrug. We hope the remains would be given to staff with their lunches. The wines were certainly much too good to pour away.
The VCR website sums up 'Experimentation; the true power of innovation' as follows;
In addition, in 2006 Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo, as a financing partner, joined the project "Sequencing and Characterisation of the Grapevine Genome" of the Institute of Applied Genomics of Udine, believing it will be crucial to be able to benefit in the medium-to-long term the results of a research aimed at obtaining disease-resistant varieties through hybridization. The innovation and scientific experimentation are therefore the true engine for VCR’s growth, because they allow growers in all wine-growing areas of the world to improve the quality of their products through the use of VCR clones and grafted vines.
And under the heading 'The Original VCR Clones,' this fascinating article:
2 comments:
Have a rather interesting green glass jug stamped VCR Italy under the cork metal caps very unique
Thanks for sharing us VCR Italy. I think I have tried their wine before. Your sharing is really informative. I am sure their factory signboard is a local attractions for everyone that know the place well.
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