Interview with Marco Simonit

Talking with Marco Simonit, that with his partner Pierpaolo Sirch are teaching the world how to prune vines.  

Sometimes numbers alone are sufficient to understand the size of a phenomenon. If an enterprise offers its services (long-term) to 120 estates in Italy and abroad; if it operates in 11 countries – Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, United States, South Africa and Australia; if it has trained over 3,000 specialists ; if it has close scientific collaboration ties with ten institutes between universities and research centers in Italy and Europe; and, finally, if its informative videos posted on YouTube have had over 1.7 million viewers , then we are dealing with a phenomenon of enormous success.

The phenomenon is a totally Italian one and is thanks to Marco Simonit and his business partner Pierpaolo Sirch , two Italians who are teaching the world how to prune vines.

When we say the “world” it is no exaggeration and aside from the numbers we cited we can back this up with the names of the estates that our “grape prepares” are working with to understand that their work is on a truly superlative level. The top names in international winemaking have them as their consultants , from Chateau d’Yquem to Chateau Latour, from Louis Roederer to Moet&Chandon and, in Italy, from Schiopetto to Gravner (from the start), from Ornellaia to Ferrari, from Ceretto to Bellavista, from Bertani Domains to the estates of Collemassari… If you think about it, it doesn’t get any better.

And yet they have not let success go to their heads. True to their Friuli character, they put their heads down and push ahead with a precise goal in mind: to extend the lifespan of vines as long as possible and push back the moment when they will have to be replanted.

We had a nice chat with Marco Simonit to get a better idea of what their work consists of, what their methods are and, why not, why they are not heralded at home. Their international success, in fact, is in large part due to the work they have done in France and which has culminated with the creation, at the University of Bordeaux,  of a university degree in vine pruning.  The theoretical courses for this degree (anatomy and physiology of vines and vegetal pathologies) are taught by professors at the Istitut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin, while the practical ones (70% of the course load) are supervised by Simonit&Sirch tutors Maîtres Tailleurs de Vigne and focus on the principles of their pruning methods involving the flow of lymph, different training systems and the organization and management of a pruning teams.

You are Italians and you began your activities in Italy. How was it that the French beat Italy in creating a university degree on vine pruning?

Unfortunately, Italy lacks, on an institutional level, the open-mindedness towards innovation that distinguishes many other countries and perhaps even a certain elasticity. Abroad we found a great mental openness  and not just in France but also in the United States, South America, Australia and South Africa. In regard to the university degree program, however, much of the credit goes to the great enologist Denis Dubourdieu, who called us to France in 2011 to consult on necrotomic problems related certain varietals. From then on up until his death we collaborated together and undoubtedly having a ‘sponsor’ of his rank helped up move forward.

How to you think foreign wine producers see you?

As is the case in the fashion world, we are considered to be Italian craftsmen  capable of creating tailor-made products. Let me explain better: we are specialized in understanding the “state of the art” of vineyards and using that evaluating the procedures needed to technically improve them in the utmost respect of local styles and characteristics. Each estate has its own style that must be respected. 

And how is your approach received?

We have a long-term vision, we work to extend the lifespan of vine because this is the only way wines can develop those characteristics that are typical to their soils and this is of great interest to the producers of great wines. The fact is that abroad (much more than Italy, unfortunately), a lot of attention is paid to the vineyard. Foreigners are 'obsessed' with information and know how . And whereas in Italy there is a lot of talk, abroad they take action. Furthermore, abroad there is much more collaboration between private sector and universities that carry out research to meet the needs of business. This is a virtuous cycle that results in overall growth for the whole sector. In Italy the approach is much different with research and experimentation carried out by universities (often excellently) not in conjunction with the private sector but parallel to them to then only share the results at the end. Fortunately, this is not always the case but it is the most common and explains why abroad they are more advanced than in Italy.

Can you explain in brief what your methods consists of?

First of all, pruning affects the vascular integrity of a plant and if the latter is compromised it can result in the death of the plant. We use a calibrated method of pruning that reduces the devastating effect the cutting has on the plant’s lymphatic system  which can cause it to dry out from the inside. This system can be applied to all types of vine training because the method of correct pruning has nothing to do with how the vines are trained.

In short, there four basic rules that can be applied universally:

1. allow the plant to grow with time and occupy space with its trunk and branches:
2. guarantee continuity in the flow of lymph within the plant:
3. carry our correct, non-invasive and small cuts on young plants;
4. employ the so-called “respect the wood” method to keep the lymph system from drying out.

In order to expand the our method, our technicians do on-site training at the estates they have been called to, working alongside them, as well as stage courses throughout the country and teach students seeking a degree in vine pruning at the University of Bordeaux.

Among the methods you have developed, one which many are talking about, is dendrosurgery. Could you explain it to us?

It is a “surgical” method we developed to combat grapevine trunk disease and avoid them being uprooted and replanted. Using small chainsaws, we open the trunk and remove the parts that have contacted esca. Once the plant has been ‘dis-intoxicated’ it can heal itself in a short period of time and fully resume producing fruit. After five years of work and experimentation in vineyards in Italy and France, 90% of the vines treated this way have returned to being fully productive. 

The importance of this method is both economic (significant savings from not having to uproot the sick vines, dig holes, plant shoots and train the new vines until they are productive) and, above all, has to do with the quality of the wine. This because the longevity of the plant ensures quality continuity and the recognizability of great wines.