Agraria Association Grapevine Harvest and Traffic Challenges

The grape harvest, just beginning, raises old traffic issues for the Agraria association again. The weather pattern this summer has accelerated grape ripening along the vines, which are constantly monitored by technicians checking daily the sugar levels in the bunches: the early start mirrors last year’s, occurring ten to fifteen days earlier than traditional deadlines.

The Chardonnay destined for sparkling wine production was already harvested last week. There is little work at the site for this type of grape: the Cantina Sociale Rivana merely collects and ships it without pressing the bunches, which are sent directly to specific wineries for that particular vinification process.

Following this, the harvest of Pinot Grigio began, which is vinified on site. The white grape harvest will require about ten days of work: the entire first week of September should be dedicated to it. Director Zumiani, however, cannot forecast much more than that: plans are made for the next two to three days, with an eye on the weather.

If the dry weather continues, this vintage promises to be memorable as well. The difficulties mainly concern the traffic around the Cantina Sociale, especially due to the impossibility for outgoing vehicles to travel the twenty meters to Viale Damiano Chiesa, given the recently installed transit restriction by the municipal administration.

To follow the current one-way system, around 100 to 150 tractors per day exit the courtyard, climb Viale Alberti-Lutti, descend Viale Martiri and Viale Dante until Largo Posta, and then continue along Damiano Chiesa: a somewhat incomprehensible figure-eight route, which unnecessarily adds extremely slow traffic and exhaust fumes to the already congested Largo Bensheim.

When a trailer needs to exit, due to limited space, the Agraria requests assistance from the local police to block traffic for a minute in front of the bowling alley, allowing the truck and trailer to reverse out in the opposite direction. A simple solution would be to remove, even just for the four weeks of the harvest period, the ban on this stretch of Viale Lutti.

The leadership of the Agraria association has brought this problem to the attention of the mayor: the hope is that a decision will be made in a timely manner, within a couple of days.