Respect and care. Two words that come naturally for the Dante Rivetti wine cellar, especially when used in relation to the vineyards. Showing respect for the plants, and as a result for the land hosting them, means caring for them.
Not in the sense of curing disease through antibiotics, but rather as methodical attention to meeting the needs of the plant through the familiarity that has bound man to the places here practically from time immemorial.
This is why Dante Rivetti have done without synthetic products for years, and are committed to ensuring that all the materials used in the vineyard have the least possible impact on the environment. And transferring a similar mindset to the winery has also come naturally.
The materials used in the vineyard are chosen out of respect for nature: to avoid the problem of disposing of concrete posts, iron is employed when replanting, and the use of plastic ties have been replaced by a system of double steel wires and springs that lasts a vineyard’s entire lifetime.
The same attention is paid to the health of the soil, a major factor influencing the quality of the wines produced. In fact, chemical herbicides have no longer been distributed for some years now: in-row tillers are used to cut the roots of weeds in between the vines so they dessicate naturally, while the grass between the rows is cut, shredded and interred to enrich the soil with nitrogen, providing the vines in a natural way with one of the main elements they require for their vegetative activity.
Finally, the piéce de resistance of the whole growing and production process is vermicomposting, which transforms all the organic waste into humus through the entirely natural work of worms.
This compost is indispensible for maintaining and reintegrating the fertility of the soil in place of chemical fertilizers.
The solar PV system, which enables the estate to save up to 200,000 kg of CO2 a year, rounds off the concept according to which the land is not just a place: it is home, whether to people or plants is immaterial.