1969: the first 52 “Rauscedo” clones were officially homologated, while in the 1980’s the Company started some joint ventures in foreign countries. Of course Europe was at hand, and the Cooperative took agreements with “Agromillora Catalana” for the marketing of VCR products, then in 1989 with the Greek Company “Vitrohellas” and in 1996 with the Californian “Nova Vine”, while in 2000’s it was the turn of Australia and France. This is the reason why over 35% of the total production is exported, including China and India in the last years, and in 2006 they could boast the homologation of the 225th clone!

Walking throughout the hangars, you can tell how much room and laborwork are required. As you can see in the pictures, grapevines need to be properly cut for the grafting, then they are dipped in paraffin to prevent moulds and bacterias. A whole area is refrigerated to store the grapevines, ready to be used or shipped abroad, with a maximum capacity of 70 million ones.

But who provides the rootstocks? The Company, which grows American ones in special nurseries. We drove shortly to a cultivated area surrounded by labs meant for the cloning. When Philloxera broke out in the mid-XIXth cent. most of our vineyard were heavily affected by the bug which killed the roots. It was found that American rootstocks and vines were able to adapt and survive the desease, so most of the grapes used today were imported from Usa, and successfully prospered in Europe. This is the reason why the same plants are grown now, and exploited for the grafting, while original vines are still supplied by the Associates, who don’t live in the Friuli only, but throughout Italy. Lots of clones have been already widely experimented, but scientific research progressed and found new biotypes from the same wine grape cultivar.

These are selected according to improving aspects, such as the production capacity, the quality potential etc. Therefore they need to be grown, processed into wine, so the expectations will be fully checked.

As you know, each grape requires the proper soil, exposure, climate, and care. When our escort mentioned the total nursery surface, I was pretty surprised, about 2500 acres!

Of course they weren’t located there, they are in Veneto, Puglia, Toscana, among the most gifted wine regions in the country!

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