As you travel the Italian peninsula and beyond, you have noticed that almost every vineyard, whether big or medium-small size, has beautiful roses at the beginning of each row.
Do you know why?
Today we want to reveal this little fun fact!
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In the past, winegrowers thought roses were extremely delicate and could thus perform as a sort of “sentinel” to promptly warn them of diseases or insects approaching that might then attack the vine.
But is this really true?
Actually, no! As time progressed and viticulture studies have increased, we realized that roses fail to serve as an “alarm” to indicate the arrival of potentially harmful diseases for vines. Indeed, the timing of spread, for example, downy mildew, is almost the same. Besides, the developed disease type may not be the same as the one damaging the vine.
A French story also tells about the roses being used to help horses, while working in the vineyards, recognize the point where they had to turn.
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While no longer scientifically valid or operationally helpful today, it still does not stop the winemakers of old Europe from carrying on with this beautiful tradition. Indeed, the care and beauty of a place are still not elements to underestimate, and roses still perform this function very well!
At Caiarossa, for example, you will see them at the beginning of the rows, all in red, to create once again that harmony between colours that we love so much. Red and green are complementary colours, and when they are together, they look brighter. But that is another story that we will explore in more detail at another time….
