US Edition
Italian wine makers accused of shady plan to grow grapes on damp hillsides prized by truffle hunters
Rising temperatures forcing them to encroach on land traditionally left as woodland or meadows for prized white tubers to grow
Truffle hunters in one of Italy’s most famous wine-producing regions have accused winemakers of encroaching on their territory.
To combat rising year-round temperatures and scorching summers, winemakers in the Piedmont region would like to plant vines on the north-facing slopes of hills, which had been considered too cool, damp and shady for grape cultivation.
Extending vineyards to the northern slopes is being proposed by a consortium of winemakers as a way of addressing the challenges they face from global warming.
But it puts them at loggerheads with truffle hunters who say that, for centuries, north-facing slopes have been left for woodland and meadows to provide the perfect habitat for truffles to grow.
The battle of the gourmands is unfolding in the Langhe area of Piedmont, which is renowned for its Barbaresco and Barolo reds – the latter known as “the wine of kings and the king of wines”. Both are made from the Nebbiolo grape.
The Langhe area – the name is derived from an ancient Celtic word for tongue, a reference to the tongue-shaped hills that rise above the valleys – is famed for its expensive white truffles.
Truffle hunters say that if north-facing hillsides are covered in serried rows of vines, there will be nowhere for them and their faithful truffle hounds to search for the prized tubers.
Grave threat
“Opening up north-facing slopes to the production of grapes would pose a grave threat to truffles,” said Antonio Degiacomi, the president of the National Centre for Truffle Studies, based in Alba, a picturesque town in the Langhe area.
“All the biodiversity of the region is concentrated on the northern slopes and without it there will be no truffles.”
Covering the previously wooded northern slopes with vineyards would be a “lethal blow” to truffle hunters, Mr Degiacomi told La Stampa newspaper and “if it is allowed to go ahead, the famous white truffle of Alba will no longer exist”.
The idea has been proposed by the Consortium for the Protection of Barolo and Barbaresco, an association of winemakers, which said it would be a way of addressing “the climatic conditions we are experiencing and the effects they are having”.
Matteo Ascheri, a wine maker who is in favour of the change, said: “Faced with climate change, we have to adapt. The conditions in which we work have changed.
“If a location that is less sunny is better than one which is exposed to the sun, let’s consider it.”
The suggestion is likely to catch the eye of other winemaking regions in Italy, all of which are wrestling with the problems caused by rising temperatures.
But not all winemakers are in favour of extending vineyards to north-facing slopes. Some argue that it will lead to overproduction that could undermine the value of the prestige reds.
Monoculture
They say the region is already subject to a high degree of monoculture because of the large number of vineyards.
They also caution that there is no scientific proof that Nebbiolo grapes can be successfully grown on north-facing hillsides and that vines grown in damper conditions may be more vulnerable to disease.
Expanding the area under vine cultivation “could change the economy of the entire territory, to say nothing of the risk of exhausting a region which is already under pressure from monoculture,” said Marta Rinaldi, a Barolo producer.