The company, led by Marcello Lunelli, was started by a collaboration between universities and Italian companies seeking to create a new generation of rootstock<\/p>\n
\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tStronger and more resistant vines, not subject to illnesses or affected by drought, that thrive in calcareous soils and adapt to a multitude of other environmental hardships, this is truly a global revolution in viticulture.<\/p>\n
\tThanks to a project started in the early 80s between universities and industry and headed by Attilio Scienza, an international authority on viticulture, new rootstocks are being produced. \u00a0Ferrari Winery is at the forefront of this effort with Marcello Lunelli, vice-president of the Trentino company, heading the project. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\tRootstocks are, explains the Italian dictionary Zingarelli, \u201cplants, or the parts of a plant which receive the graft.\u201d \u00a0Since 1886 when Europe was forced to compete with the phylloxera blight, new rootstocks had not been produced and in the meantime viticulture has evolved, the climate has changed and with it also the future of the vine growing sector. \u00a0This deficit has been remedied by Professor Scienza through his work in grapevine rootstocks resulting in a new generation ready to be sold all over the world. \u00a0A new company, Winegraft, was established to lead this enterprise, the first of its kind in the Italian wine industry which combines universities with the commercial sector. \u00a0Along with Ferrari, there are many other prominent Italian \u00a0wine makers which support \u00a0Winegraft financially such as: Banfi, Zonin, Armani Albino, Cantina Due Palme, Claudio Quarta Vignaiolo, Bertani Domains, Nettuno Castellare, Cantine Sette Soli and also, the Venetian Foundation and Bioverde Trentino, a producer of products for the wine sector.<\/p>\n
\tMarcello Lunelli, president of Winegraft, explains the operation of the project; \u201cthe rights over these rootstocks will be held by our company and managed by a spin-off of the University of Milan, iPad Lab, while the Rauscedo Coop Nurseries will manage the industrial development from the production to the \u00a0commercialization of the plants all over the world. \u00a0The royalties gained from these sales will ensure the continuation of the project to create genetically superior rootstocks, and to discover, we hope, how to make them continually more adaptable and universal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"