The ritual of “resting the grapes” is officially nominated for UNESCO intangible Heritage

Our drying lofts, time, and a story that continues

March 2026 — the 19th brought great news: our ritual of “putting the grapes to rest” has been nominated for recognition as UNESCO intangible Heritage.

This is our incredible story of the “resting process.”

There are endless days—days that truly feel endless—that I spend alone in the drying lofts.

After the intense, noisy days of harvest, come the days of counting and silence.

Nothing seems to happen. And yet, everything happens.

The air moves slowly through the crates, carrying with it the scent of grapes that are changing, concentrating, becoming something else. It is a fragrance I have always known. It is home.

As I count and recount the wooden crates by hand, estimating their weight, checking the health of each grape, monitoring the drying process of our five different grape varieties, I wait—100 days.

When I read about the Valpolicella nomination for UNESCO Intangible Heritage for the appassimento ritual, my mind went immediately to this silence.

To this suspended time that, for us, has never been extraordinary. It has always simply been… life.

A story that begins long ago

Our drying lofts were built over 250 years ago to be both beautiful and functional, originally as workshops for raising silkworms. Feeding on mulberry leaves, they would grow within their delicate silk cocoons.

At the time of the Republic of Venice, silk came from Valpolicella and Florence.

Giambattista Tiepolo, in Venetian palaces, painted magnificent frescoes depicting the Venetian countryside, where pollarded mulberry trees—essential for silkworm farming—stood beside airy rooms where the worms were raised. Those same ventilated spaces are what we now call fruttai.

Tiepolo “Pulcinella” Ca’ Rezzonico Venezia

Two natural structures, among the first nine ever existing in Valpolicella.

No technology, no forcing. Only air, the right heights, openings designed to let the wind pass through—and for the past 100 years, to accompany the grapes on their journey.

Generations have passed through here.

Here, the fate of every harvest has been decided.

And still today, every year, we begin again. With the same respect. With the same uncertainty.

When tradition meets the eyes of others

In recent months, we have welcomed anthropologists and researchers who came to observe, study, and understand.

It was a profound source of pride to watch them move through our spaces, taking notes on gestures that, for us, are simply natural.

To hear their questions about details we were proud to explain with precision and care.

We are deeply aware that a centuries-old tradition, so ordinary to us, is something we hope the rest of the world will recognize as heritage, as memory, as part of humanity.

Opening our drying lofts was not a formal act.

It was a way of saying: this story is not only ours—it also passes through here.

The value of slow things

Appassimento cannot truly be controlled.

It can only be guided.

It is a lesson that extends beyond wine.

Not everything can be accelerated. Not everything can be optimized.

Some processes require trust.

Time.

And the ability to wait without intervening too much.

Perhaps that is why this ritual still makes sense today.

Looking ahead, without forgetting where we come from

If this nomination succeeds, in 2027 it will be an important recognition.

But the truth is, for us, it will not change the way we work.

Tomorrow, we will still walk into the drying lofts.

We will check the grapes.

We will open or close a window.

We will listen to the air.

We will do what we have always done.

With perhaps a stronger awareness that these simple gestures are part of something greater.

And, in the end, that is a beautiful thing.

Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde’s goal is to become a fourth-generation winery, while preserving its original identity: the production of high-quality grapes dried in natural lofts within our historic 16th-century cellar, located in one of the oldest rural buildings in upper Valpolicella—maintaining ancient traditional standards while seriously and sustainably planning for the future of production.

There is a beautiful song I always carry with me, one that we all know.

Soon, I will write its most meaningful line on the wall of our drying loft:

“The answer is blowing in the wind.”