THE INSTITUTIONS

If Conegliano Valdobbiadene is recognized today as the land of Prosecco Superiore, this is partly due to the institutions based in the area, which have played a fundamental role in Italian oenology. Ever since the 17th century, agricultural academies were created locally, allowing for the spread of viticultural expertise in the zone. This quest for knowledge led to the symbolic “birth” of wine culture in Conegliano Valdobbiadene in 1876, the year of the foundation of the Conegliano School of Oenology, the first of its kind in Italy. This School still trains over 90% of the region’s oenologists and many other winemakers throughout Italy. It performed a fundamental role in this wine’s current success by providing – many decades ago – a process for making sparkling wine that is ideal for the production of Prosecco: the Italian Method. From that moment on, production techniques in both the vineyard and the winery were refined and the use of the Italian Method for making sparkling wines became widespread. This technique involves re-fermentation in pressurized tanks for a brief period of time, so as to preserve the grapes’ varietal aromas. The creation of the School of Oenology was followed by the foundation of the Viticultural Research Institute in 1923, now, since 2004, CRA – Research Centre for Viticulture. As with the School of Oenology, this was also the first establishment of its type in Italy. Here, in 1936, Professor Giovanni Dalmasso studied the area of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene and, in the light of the“very ancient tradition of producing dry semi-sparkling or sparkling white wines”, he proposed the delimitation of the zone. His boundaries became those of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene D.O.C., obtained in 1969. In the last few years, various research institutes have amalgamated around the School of Oenology, including Veneto Agricoltura, a Regional centre which oprates in the sphere of innovation and experimentation in the wine sector. Adding to this cultural hub within the area, a degree course in Viticultural and Oenological Science and Technology was instituted in 2001 by the University of Padua.