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About Mezzane Valley…

Extract from “Trame”, our depliant. You can have it only visiting us!

The fertile land and water availability favored the human settlement in the valley of Mezzane in prehistoric times, as evidenced by the discovery of flint tools and tips dating back to the Middle Paleolithic age. From the fifteenth century BC the valley saw the presence of the Euganei, prehistoric tribes mainly devoted to horse breeding and agriculture, until the arrival of the Romans.

Under the Roman Empire with the construction of the Cara road which led from the Castrum of San Mauro di Saline, to Postumia road (actually crossing at four streets in San Pietro di Lavagno) Mezzane became an important center with a thriving market and a number of residential villas.

Agricultural activity, now as then, is the hub of life in the valley, defining the landscape and its physical characteristics, human, biological and ethnic.

Geographically the Mezzane valley stretches from north to south, first with hills covered with vineyards and olive trees that rise gently up to 500-600 meters s.l.m. From here the slopes are more rugged and tree crops give way to meadows and the forests of Lessinia.

The western slope, steeper, has gravelly and stony soils originated by sedimentation of material transported by glaciers and their dissolution.

To the north, the valley floor is composed mostly of an accumulation of debris caused by gravity, . In the south, however, there is a greater clayey component in the alluvial nature of these soils.

In the east side, the one that is hosting us, the limestones are more compact and stratified. This type of rock is typical of Lessinia land. In proportion assumes a hardness greater than that of the hilly environments and, until the middle of last century, was used for the construction of homes and stables.

The rivers that descend from numerous sources from the sides and flow into the “Progno Mezzane” have always been a key resource for agriculture in the valley.

Here in Corte Sant’Alda (East side) Biancone stone is extremely present, the rock that in all vineyards is shown with great candour, consisting of almost pure limestone originated from the remains of innumerable marine microorganisms. The absence of coarse components and the extreme fineness of the sediment suggest a typical sedimentation of a deep sea environment, far away from the mainland. While maintaining its limestone matrix, the ground may be more or less deep with presence of flint and clay or a red stone which is a close relative of red Verona marble.

Because of  water availability (in Mezzane average rainfall is around 840 mm per year spread over 86 days and the average annual temperature stood at 12.9 ° C) The roots of the vines go so far into the rock and absorb small reserves of water trapped by capillary action in microfractures of layers of limestone.

The plant with deep root organs has even greater strength during drought and high summer temperatures. The well water drawn from about 450 meters of depth is just sufficient to supply only those vineyards where the hard rock seems to emerge.

Our story starts in 1986, the hectares of vineyards were 4,  pergola with an average age of 35 years and only one known planting pattern were punctuated by cherry, an integral part of the vineyard piling structure and where olive trees planted on embankments and small plots of land contributed to the production budget of the rural family.

Armed with good will, a bit ‘of unconsciousness and a little money in our green hued pockets, the earth and wine of our Tapestries have begun to take shape and color.

A small revolution, as “pioneering” for the reality of the Mezzane Valley, was the change in the type of training system. In 1986 arrived the first Guyot, passing through the cordon and the sapling (a romantic facility but hardly applicable to our varieties) embracing fully and without compromise quality requirements then at the forefront. In time they try various combinations of the plant in 1986 3×0.8 m in Macie vineyard in 2005 to 1,4×0,8 of Cavallero, then returning in 2009, and today in 2016, one-sixth of a more rational system of 1,80x 0.80.

Though the awards and recognitions started to arrive since 1995 we were dissatisfied by “MODERN” vineyards practices, In 2002, after the meeting with Nicolas Joly in Milan, during a Biodynamic conference, we decided to embrace a new world made of people, feelings, little details in our small way of trying to preserve and improve the landscape.

 

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