MERANO – The 31st edition of Merano Wine Festival “Breath and Cry of the Earth”, which Daily Virtues follows as always live, is a reminder of the strength and beauty of the Earth, today in difficulty. But nature is characterized by extreme resilience and the Naturae et Purae program “Wine Resilience – Extreme Spirits. From the islands of the Mediterranean to those of the spirit ”, shows how extreme territories welcome extreme wines. A journey to be taken in the five days of the Merano Wine Festival 2022, which Naturae et Purae faces, as its tradition, with an interesting series of conferences on the most engaging and unusual topics in the world of wine.
It begins on Friday 4 November with the family of vines that have most shaped the winemaking past of the Mediterranean, its civilizations and its landscapes. “The Malvasie, wines and landscapes of the Mediterranean. From the Aeolian Islands to Istria passing through the Lofoten Islands. History of a cultural wine ”presents the saga of Malvasia, starting from the Lofoten islands, where in 1431 the Venetian nobleman Pietro Querini was shipwrecked. A merchant, he sailed from the port of Crete to Flanders to unload his precious cargo of wine, Malvasia, in that region. But wine has shaped civilizations not only with trade routes.
“De Clos en Clos – The Lord’s vineyards: spirits and spirituality between innovation and crisis of convents” (Saturday 5 November) tells the places of the spirit, the monasteries, whose contribution to the culture of wine has been fundamental over the centuries, and the whose role today is changing under the pressure of modernity. Talking about the culture of wine over time also means discovering and knowing the objects with which it was produced. This is the case of the amphorae, testimony of the Mediterranean civilizations, from which viticulture today draws inspiration.
A story told on Sunday 6 November in the meeting “Terracruda: overview of amphorae”. Finally, among the extreme territories there are, due to environmental conditions, the lands overlooking the sea: the conference “Maritime wines: the extremes of viticulture overlooking the sea” also presents the viticulture of these territories, fragile and evocative, on Sunday 6 November. , always on the verge of survival and therefore particularly precious.
Naturae et Purae is accompanied by events such as the tasting counters and the Wild Cooking dedicated to the world of natural foods, with cooking show, on November 4th, “Stockfish & Malvasia”, to taste the combination of fish and wine. A food, the stockfish, which the merchant Pietro Querini came across when in the Lofoten islands; a food that has united the north and south of Europe for centuries. And then the masterclasses and the daily appointment with the Pipe & Wine lounge, dedicated to the tasting of wines and spirits paired with pipes and tobaccos.
The Naturae et Purae program ends on Tuesday 8 November with the “Nel Segno di Zierock” award, as part of Bio & Dinamica in the Kursaal, where organic, biodynamic wines and PIWI varieties meet. The award is dedicated to Rainer Zierock, the oenologist who bequeathed a holistic vision of wine production, in which climate, soil, grape variety and man meet and man becomes the repository of the wine culture , made of tradition and ethics.
Appointments, those of Naturae et Purae, which accompany visitors and exhibitors on a journey by sea, albeit stationary in the beautiful setting of the Villa San Marco in Merano. Born with the name of Schwalbenvilla (Villa delle Rondini) between 1894 and 1895, today it houses the Academy of Italian-German Studies.
THE NATURAE ET PURAE PROGRAM
Friday 4th November 2022
11.00 – 13.00: Le Malvasie wines and Mediterranean landscapes. From the Aeolian Islands to Istria passing through the Lofote Islands. History of a cultural wine.
12.00 -17.00: Tasting Desk of Malvasie
15.00-16.00: Cooking Show Stockfish & Malvasia
18.00: Pipe & Wine
Saturday 5th November 2022
11:00 – 12:00: “De Clos en Clos – The Lord’s vineyards: spirits and spirituality between innovation and crisis of the convents.
12.00 -16: 00: Tasting Desk
16: 00-17: 30: Low Wine ABV – talk and masterclass
18.00: Pipe & Wine
Sunday 6 November 2022
10: 30-12: 30: Maritime wines: the extremes of viticulture overlooking the sea.
14: 00-15: 30: Terracruda: overview of the amphorae. Masterclass.
17.00: Pipe & Wine
Monday 7th November 2022
17.00: Pipe & Wine
Tuesday 8th November 2022
Bio & Dynamics – 12.00
Kursaal: In the sign of Zierock, the Prize.
Masterclass Arunda the Wine Festival greets Sepp Reiterer
Michael Reiterer exhibition