In 2024, a big dream came true for us. All our vineyards, including those of our 60 vintner partners across Alto Adige, are being cultivated solely with organic or biodynamic methods. This is a total of 140 hectares (346 acres)! When we transitioned our own vineyards to biodynamic practices back in 2004, we could only dream of the day that our vintner partners would join us in this healthy form of agriculture that respects nature and the environment. The idea that so many of those supplying us with grapes would adopt similar practices seemed almost unbelievable.
Yet, two decades later, this dream has become reality. With the 2024 harvest, not only our 55 hectares (136 acres) but an additional 85 hectares (210 acres) of partner vineyards are farmed organically or biodynamically, totaling 140 hectares (346 acres). We are both happy and proud to have achieved this milestone together with our vintner partners and staff.
At the same time, we have introduced the ‘value system’, which forms the basis for the cooperation with our vintner partners from the 2024 harvest. It emphasizes values like sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and soil fertility, serving as the basis for the economic evaluation of our partners' work, which in turn determines the price of their grapes.
The value system, which we have developed together with some of our partners is based on the five pillars soil, plant, animal, human and market. Initiatives such as cover cropping, hedge planting, gentle pruning and livestock integration are encouraged and financially rewarded. All partners work organically or biodynamically, in addition they can decide how far they want to go in the five areas and which values they want to implement. In addition to these parameters, which relate to the cultivation of the vineyards, there are site-specific or market-dependent criteria, such as location, slope, grape varieties, etc., which are evaluated separately.
The new system is still in its early stages, and we plan to refine and evolve it continuously over the next few years in collaboration with our vintner partners. It represents a significant and vital shift towards placing an even greater emphasis on healthy agriculture and collaborative relationships with our partners.