OUR VINEYARDS

The Piacenza viticultural territory presents a wide and diversified varietal heritage including also various native vines, a sign of the producers' desire to assert a precise identity. The Cantina di Vicobarone is at the forefront of this mission of enhancing our grapes and the wines that come from them.
On the territory of the Piacenza hills the most common plant is the Simple Guyot. This form of breeding creates the so-called "spalliera", which molds our hills making them an ordered succession of longitudinal lines that cannot fail to affect the visitors of our territory. With this breeding method we tend to eliminate all the vegetation except for a one-year-old branch (head to fruit) and a small spur, or a portion of small-sized shoots, bearing two or three buds. This form of farming is the one that historically best accompanies our characteristic vines such as Barbera, Croatina, Malvasia and Ortrugo. Guyot is also the most densely hand-cultivated form of farming, with particular regard to pruning, which becomes the most important operation: carried out when the plant is at rest, it decisively influences the quality for the following vintage. .
Another form of farming present on the territory is the Casarsa.This training system, in the traditional form, involves the establishment of a permanent cordon at a height of 1.60-1.70 m. Along this cord are inserted 3-4 long fruit heads 4-5 buds each. A scaffolding consisting of a pair of wires is placed above the seam supporting wire. The fruiting garments do not bind so that, when the bunches are born from the shoots, the whole production area tends to bend downwards with the bunches that descend as if suspended in the air and protected from the sun. In our territory the Casarsa does not provide any scaffolding above the cordon, leaving the vine completely free. This plant in the Piacenza hills has a marginal spread, but is a traditional form, always present for all the cultivated vines. In recent years, taking into account the ever increasing mechanization needs, especially for pruning operations, the form has appeared breeding of spurred cordon for which, after the start of the winter rest, pruning is performed, leaving one or two branches that will remain on the plant for at least four or five years. On them will be left four equidistant spurs between them. The pruning of the coming years will consist in renewing the spur year by year. Also this form of training provides for the formation of the "espalier" and is suitable for the Barbera and Ortrugo vines.
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