Wine growing has a long tradition on the sun-kissed hillsides that stretch up from Bozen to the Ritten. With 132 hectares under cultivation, the Ritten is among South Tyrol’s larger wine growing communities. This led us to create a wine trail in the form of a kind of “artistic wine steps” through the diverse terroir. The trail passes through the well-tended vineyards of Signat and St. Justina to Rentsch and is intended to be a living symbol of the cooperation
between tourism and agriculture.
Recommended season for hiking: Fall, winter and spring.
between tourism and agriculture.
Recommended season for hiking: Fall, winter and spring.
The grapeSun - water - earth, these elements cause the colour, size and taste of the grape.Encounter of man and natureEncounter of man and nature, a wonderful resting place for spiritual moments...IrrigationNo growth without water. In the vineyards, the first large-scale vineyard irrigation with its own pressure took place in 1931 through a 450 m supply line from the tunnel along the Valle Isarco for the electric power station in Kardaun. With the construction (1951/54) of two further irrigation systems from the tunnel with water from the Sarntal valley for the electric power station in St. Anton, the higher vineyard sites (Obermagdalena, Signat) received a connection for irrigation. The supplementary irrigation ensures regular vine growth on the dry slopes with very rain-permeable soils due to their sandy-gravelly structure.Read moreCoppice ForestAlong the path we are accompanied by a deciduous coppice forest, 300-900 m above sea level, widespread in South Tyrol in the Eisacktal valley as far as Brixen and in the Vinschgau valley as far as Schlanders, just north of the wine-growing border, composed of downy oak, manna ash, hop hornbeam, sour cherry, cornelian cherry, Zürgelbaum, wild chestnut, interspersed with forest pine in the upper area.Sweet chestnutThe sweet chestnut is a heat-loving light tree species at 400-900 m above sea level, thrives predominantly on acidic soils, grafting with local chestnut types, presumably native since Roman times, individual trees over 300 years old, formerly wood for vine support framework and use in barrel making, today use of the fruit as roasted chestnuts accompanied by young wine ("Törggelezeit" in autumn).HarvestHarvesting is done exclusively by hand in the average small farm sizes of 2-3 ha, short labour-intensive period in the months from the beginning of September to mid-October, the gentle harvesting process and the right choice of time have a positive influence on the wine quality, the weather in the weeks before the harvest can have a noticeable effect on the quality of the vintage.St. Justina churchThe high church was built around 1300, damaged by bombing in 1944 with the exception of the tower, tower with trifolium opening and brick pointed pyramid; sunny location in the wine-growing area of St. Magdalen with fourteen vineyards at three wine producers.The wine city BolzanoBolzano has been a wine and trading town since the High Middle Ages, with four annual markets, embedded in a vineyard landscape to this day, also a transport hub for Alpine crossings, wine cultivation since 400 BC, donations of vineyards to monasteries including 30 from Bavaria documented since the 9th century, first mention of Bolzano wine in 955, Bolzano is the third largest wine-growing municipality in South Tyrol with a cellar cooperative, five commercial wineries, and 24 wineries of its own.Read more