Borgo Dei Posseri

The Borgo dei Posseri farm lies on a sunny plateau at 450-650 m above sea level on the left side of the Adige Valley, above the historical small town of Ala, between Trento and Verona, in a place called Pozzo Basso. You reach it by going along the first stretch of Ronchi Valley, a geologically interesting area being the connection between the Lessini Mountains in the south, and the Small Dolomites. At its shoulders, the Carega group lies above 2200 m on calcareous rocks in a typically prealpine environment, characterized by belts of chestnut, beech and fir. The vineyards, spaced out by thistle woods and pastureland, are mainly flat or slightly sloping down to the west, while the exposure is mainly to west and north-west. Winds coming from south (Ora) and north regularly pass though the area and make it an ideal habitat for grapevine cultivation in a non-intensive environment.

The farm is a sort of “wine laboratory”, perched above the Adige valley and the crests leading up to the Small Dolomites, the mountain chain marking the border between the Trentino and Veneto regions. A place from which to admire the Vallagarina in all its environmental complexity, with Ala as the local entrepôt and guardian of unexpected, obscure and unjustly forgotten agricultural know-how. Water gurgling around clods of earth which gradually turn into rock, a landscape typified by alpine plants sharing the sun’s warmth with the olive. A countryside made of contrasts that are the very essence of this rural backwater, doggedly and intelligently prised from the domineering force of the woods and mountains. Rows of vines laid out on sun-kissed terraces, plants once again claiming the soil and land that have always been tended with the skill and stubbornness which only mountain peasants know how to hand down. So many minor but essential skills passed on through sweat and in hope, while all around techniques and varieties are at risk of extinction, besieged by simple methods of cultivation and crops that tend towards uniformity instead of diversification.