in the late middle ages and during the habsburg monarchy the production of wine in the south tyrolean wineries flourished. the wine production and sale developed thanks to the activity of the families of winemakers from the nineteenth century and thanks to the cooperatives since the twentieth century. in the twentieth century there were several critical periods: first due to the phylloxera and then in the first post-war with the breakdown of the traditional markets (austria, hungary, bavaria) with the fascist repression, as well as during the second post-war. with the mass production, the wine industry consolidated until the 1980s. in the 1980s there was a deep crisis of the sales channels most common at the times, especially the sale of wine in tanks in switzerland. cellars changed their sales strategy. more quality wines were produced; quantity moved to the background and nowadays it hasn't value any longer. decisive for the winemaking in south tyrol was 1971, when people returned to the division and classification of wine zones according to the pdo rules. the quality production, pursued up until now since 20 years, as well as the spread of the bottling in bottles of 0,75 litres have earned this small wine area an excellent reputation. this is especially true for white wines in italy, but also for the wine experts in the international markets.