Two full days in the South Tyrolean highlands under the banner of the fourth edition of the Alto Adige wine summit organised by Consorzio Vini Alto Adige. With its mountainous scenery, the alto adige region of Northern Italy is a complex mosaic of unique and original settings and cultures.
Alto Adige is a trading point from every direction and the meeting place of three different cultures (German, Italian and Ladin). The area is an authentic climatic island located in the centre of the Alps. 98% of the territory is mountainous and only 0.6% of the area is cultivated with vineyards at altitudes ranging from 200 to 1000 metres. The vineyards of Alto Adige carpet the slopes bordering two rivers, the Adige and Isarco, along the route from the Alpine glaciers to the Mediterranean flora of the South Tyrolean lowlands. A short journey (90 km) in which extremely varied landscapes and climatic zones alternate. A patch of land that manages to contain more than 20 different grape varieties (autochthonous and allochthonous). With its 5,700 hectares of vineyards, Alto Adige accounts for about 1% of the Italian peninsula’s vine-growing land. Despite its small size, it is one of Italy’s best-known wine regions. The approximately 150 Alto Adige wineries produce about 44 million bottles with 98% of the labels classified as DOC. The most common grape varieties are white covering 64% of the cultivated area (both autochthonous and allochthonous), while among the reds, in addition to the two native grape varieties Schiava and Lagrein, almost all the
