Tuscany’s Chianti Classico will host the Pruning Festival 2024, conceived and organised by Simonit&Sirch. The appointment is for 16th March 2024 in San Felice, Castelnuovo Berardenga (SI), with the Pruning Contest. The Festival will be preceded on 15th March by the Technical Conference “Vine and Water: Sustainable Design”
Technical conference
The technical conference “Vine and water: sustainable design” will introduce the Festival on 15 March. As a preview to the Festival, a technical meeting will be held at the Tenuta San Felice from 10am. The theme, which is absolutely topical, will be addressed during the morning with contributions from international specialists, followed by a round-table lunch at 3pm. The day will close with a wine tasting. Booking required, 100 places, €70, light lunch included.
Pruning Contest
The Contest is open to all those, both Italian and foreign, who want to show their skills in a competition that will reward accuracy of cuts and speed. 120 pruners will participate, competing individually and in teams of 3 members. The jury, composed by Simonit&Sirch technicians and international pruning experts, will decide the best classified in the two categories. The public will be able to closely observe the competitors intent on pruning plants. Speaker of the competition will be Francesco Quarna, DJ and winemaker, well-known Radio DeeJay presenter, passionate about viticulture and wine and food.
A day of partying
The Pruning Contest will be the core of a celebration day dedicated to ‘savoir faire in the vineyard’ open with free admission to all, pruners, vineyard people, farmers, families, friends and nature and countryside enthusiasts, who will be able to spend a pleasant and extra special daywith music, stands, tastings and a lot of side activities. The event enjoys the patronage of the Chianti Classico Consortium, the Municipality of Castelnuovo Berardenga, the ASA Italian Agri-food Press Association, and has as its main sponsor FINE+RARE of London, which since 1994 has been a leader in the purchase, sale and management of private wine cellars, giving the global public of collectors access to the finest products.
The Programme
The day will start for competitors at 8.00 a.m. with the Pruner’s Breakfast. The stands will open at 9 a.m. and the competitions will begin at 10 a.m., as will the side activities. The following will be present among others: Da Move with an adrenaline-fuelled freestyle and acrodunking basketball exhibition, the world figure skating champion Lorenzo Guslandi who will perform his extraordinary performances, the Woodcutters performing spectacular axe, saw and chainsaw cutting demonstrations, and local artisans intent on their ancient crafts. Visitors will discover the secrets of barrel-making from a master barrel-maker, watch animal traction work in the vineyard with horses, and admire the beautiful hills of Chianti and Siena from above on the record man mountaineer Simone Moro’s helicopter. The best Chianti Classico labels will be available for tasting and there will be several truck-food points with local specialities.
Wannabe a pruninguy
A corner of a vineyard will be reserved for children, where each child will plant a vine rootstock, thus creating a symbolic vineyard of the future. Various other activities have been devised for them, including a saddle christening and a buggy ride through the vineyards and educational visits to the San Felice Happy Garden.
All the details of the contest, registrations and the programme of the event at: festivaldelpotatore.it
Conference Booking:
festivaldelpotatore.it/convegno
For info: info@festivaldelpotatore.it
