Guardianship
Tenute Ruffino S.r.l on the frontline in developing research against vine disease
Italy’s vineyards are increasingly harmed by esca, a disease caused by a group of fungi that compromise the healthy growth of the vine, causing damage in terms of production, quality and revenue.
For this reason, the Unione Italiana Vini, University of Florence, the Italian National Research Council, Perleuve and the app 4Grapes have joined forces to find a solution and increase knowledge about the disease through national monitoring, which aims to involve an increasing number of companies through the research titled “Study about vine wood disease in the main winemaking regions in Italy”.
Following a questionnaire aimed at analyzing just how widespread esca is, which vine varieties are affected the most, the extent of the financial damage and which agronomic practices are adopted to prevent the disease, field monitoring was implemented to be able to study the trends at a national level.
The surveys conducted on Ruffino’s estate showed that only a fairly reduced portion (on average, 4.25% of the total vines analyzed) are affected by esca and the gravity of the symptoms (average 2.23%) found in the vineyard is currently not regarded as critical.