The Tuscan Region’s latest landscape development plan is causing concern among Tuscany’s wine producers. The 3,000-page document details new limitations on production, citing research that indicates too many vineyards in a concentrated area can contribute to landslides, soil erosion and a lack of biodiversity.
These new restrictions come shortly after a flood in the prosecco-producing town of Refrontolo (Veneto) led to four fatalities. Critics have blamed the tragedy on the area’s oversaturation of vineyards, saying that it has made the land less resistant to heavy rainfall.
Tuscan regional city planning councillor Anna Marson explained that ‘there won’t be a complete prohibition of new vineyards, just guidelines and conditions for people who want to create them.’ But many producers argue that the plan threatens their existing systems and impedes growth at a critical moment for the industry.
Regional agriculture councillor Gianni Salvadori said that the document needs to be revisited, taking more of the cultural and economic implications into account: ‘The world market for wines is expanding, particularly in Asia, and Tuscany wants to limit its own production? If we don’t invest in adequate systems, we’ll end up behind the rest of the market … This is something that we have to discuss further and better clarify,’ he emphasized. Salvadori intends to meet with wine producers across Tuscany and reopen the discussion with Marson, who maintains that the new plan ‘will allow for the creation of new vineyards, provided that they are solely Tuscan vineyards’ in every respect.
