One of Italy's most distinctive, ancient and aesthetically pleasing training forms is unjustly burdened with a reputation for producing dilute, poor-quality wines, but history shows it is actually one of the earliest efforts to establish good-quality mono-viticulture. See also Postmodern Italy – in search of genuine wine, Pergola – an agronomist's view and Some great pergola wines.
There is probably no greater misconception among the many misconceptions surrounding Italian wine than the ‘pergola myth’, which blames this vine training system for overproduction and low-quality wine.
The myth of the pergola vine training system as the source of dilute...