Ep. 2431 Robert Maggi interviews Nicola Biasi of Nicola Biasi Consulting | Clubhouse Ambassadors' Corner

When resistance becomes terroir: the quiet revolution of PV grape varieties

In a valley where family names and grape names are passed down with equal reverence, the idea of planting a vine that was purpose-bred for resilience once sounded like heresy. Nicola Biasi, a Trentino winemaker and consultant, has spent the last decade reconciling two stubborn truths: that climate change is remaking the map of viticulture, and that quality remains the only currency that persuades people to change what they pour. His work with PV (più resistente) grape varieties — hybrid vines bred for disease resistance — reads like a laboratory note turned manifesto for a more durable, humane kind of winemaking.

What PV varieties are and why they matter in modern viticulture

PV varieties are hybrids created by crossing European Vitis vinifera with disease-resistant Asian vines. The result is not a gimmick but a technical response: grapes that retain familiar aromatic and structural qualities while significantly reducing susceptibility to fungal infections like powdery and downy mildew. The crucial distinction is resistance, not immunity; depending on the cultivar, annual treatments can fall from a typical northern-Italy average of 15 sprays to only two, three, or four, dramatically cutting chemical inputs, tractor miles and the water used for spray operations.

Numbers that reshape the argument for sustainability

Biasi offers concrete figures from demonstration vineyards where PV and traditional varieties share the same soils and training systems: a 40 percent drop in carbon footprint and up to 70 percent less water used for treatments. Those are not abstract claims — they translate into fewer passes through the rows, less diesel burned, less topsoil compaction, and a smaller environmental bill for producers who are trying to keep their farms viable as weather patterns shift.

Beyond labels: quality first, sustainability as consequence

At the heart of Biasi’s approach is a stubborn prioritization of quality. He seeded a network of producers only after proving that a Joanniter-based white could age, develop complexity, and hold a place on fine restaurant lists. The project Vinda Lanao — literally, the “wine of the snow” — began as an experiment on a high-altitude site with 16,000 vines per hectare, intense viticultural management and a Burgundian-inspired vinification approach. The outcome is not a novelty wine but an icon attempt: a Joanniter that tastes like the product of place, patience and craft.

Where innovation bumps into culture and bureaucracy

Italy’s attachment to grape names and appellations is a cultural asset and a regulatory hurdle. In many regions the list of permitted varieties is written into appellation rules, and Tuscany today allows none of the 36 PV cultivars authorized nationally. The result is a patchwork of permission and prohibition: while some countries embrace hybrid plantings and even drone-assisted spraying, Italian producers often face slow-moving bureaucracy that makes experimentation costly and legally fraught.

Changing rootstocks, mindsets and slopes

Biasi pushes back against the simple prescription of moving vineyards uphill or north as a climate solution. Uprooting historic budgets and family farms into higher altitude is rarely realistic. Instead, he argues for aligning varieties to current terroir realities — planting vines that work with existing soils, exposure and microclimates. That means matching Sauvignon Gris to warmer coastal pockets, Joanniter to cold mountain sites, and choosing rootstocks to preserve acidity where heat threatens freshness.

What it looks like in the bottle and at scale

One of the most persuasive tools in Biasi’s arsenal has been tasting: side-by-side comparisons that demonstrate how PV blends can be indistinguishable from traditional baselines when planted and vinified intelligently. In a masterclass tasting of Pinot Grigio with varying percentages of PV varieties, even professional palates struggled to tell them apart, signaling that consumer resistance is rooted more in unfamiliarity than in intrinsic defect.

From Trentino to Moselle: experiments across borders

Biasi’s experiments extend beyond Italy. In Moselle he replanted a parcel 50/50 with Riesling and Joanniter to explore blending, drone-assisted application, and different training systems under a regulatory regime that is more permissive than Italy’s. Those cross-border experiments are part technical, part cultural: they show how legislation and local practice shape what a grape can become in a bottle.

Lessons for producers, sommeliers and curious drinkers

• Plant for place, not for lineage: future-proofing a vineyard means choosing vines that thrive in today’s microclimate.
• Quality trumps provenance copy: consumers reward pleasure, and sustainability succeeds only when paired with excellence.
• Quantify impact: carbon and water savings give the environmental case a clarity that rhetoric lacks.
• Communicate patiently: producers must open bottles and tell stories because labels alone won’t convert tradition-bound markets.

Nicola Biasi’s work is not a manifesto against Italy’s past but a proposition for its future: an argument that terroir remains the ultimate governor of taste, and that the vines we choose must serve that place under changing skies. If the best wines are those that carry a sense of origin, then resilient varieties that preserve flavour, soil and community may be the most conservative choice of all — conservators of land and culture under pressure. insights