While my son Martin runs the „Weingut“ guesthouse in Maia Bassa, I manage the „Trautenhof“ heritage estate in Corzes. The protagonist in my orchards is Golden Delicious. These golden apples with their red cheeks decorate the „neck” of the surrounding mountains like a pearl necklace. In my view, the most beautiful of all mountain peaks is Palla Bianca with a height of 3,738 meters as it is suggestive and wild. Especially in spring. Then the color contrast between the snow-covered peaks and the green Corzes orchards with white blossoms is a gorgeous sight you can’t get enough of. My attention, however, is not only on the beauty of nature but mainly on the many details that characterize it.

An apple tree is like a small child and this is how it grows. It needs much room to grow and the older it gets, the more room it needs, which I can best give it by following the principles of organic production. I should have converted to organic much earlier and I’m already flirting with the idea of converting to biodynamic agriculture. That would be the crowning of efforts in the Val Venosta apple paradise. Here the fruits’ cell tissue grows more slowly due to the great range of temperatures between day and night. The result is a very compact pulp that is simply wonderful to bite into. You can compare it to the growth rings of a tree. Here in Val Venosta, they are much closer than in a fast-growing apple somewhere in the plain far away from the mountains.

It’s precisely because of all the advantages of our production area that I like being an organic producer so much. While Val Venosta used to be the granary of neighboring Switzerland in the past, we are now a vitamin supplier for many countries. I’m proud of having chosen organic agriculture, which is healthy and beautiful.