Castel del Monte

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The Murge plateau, through which the Castel del Monte zone runs, is bounded by two tectonic discontinuities — one towards the Tavoliere delle Puglie and the other towards the Bradanic foredeep.
• The emergence of the Murgian platform dates to the Cretaceous, and its backbone is composed of well-stratified dolomitic limestones and dolomites, with layers ranging from a few centimetres to a few metres in thickness.
• The lithology of the area consists of the compact limestones of the general unit of the Cretaceous limestone of Bari and Altamura, with Holocene alluvial deposits in the interior zones and Plio-Pleistocene deposits along the south-western escarpment.
• The most widespread soil type is of modest depth and high stoniness and rockiness, to the point that in extreme cases it may prove unsuitable for cultivation.
• The climate is sub-Mediterranean, with a mean annual temperature of approximately 17.5 °C at Andria near the coast and 14.4 °C in the higher areas farther from the sea, while January is the coldest month with a mean of approximately 7 °C.
• Mean annual rainfall is approximately 560 mm, with precipitation concentrated in the autumn–winter period, especially in November and December, and approximately 100 mm during the dry period from June to August.
• The De Martonne aridity index for the Alta Murgia is 24.7, a value that places the area's climate in the sub-humid category.

• Gobelet and Guyot training systems were traditionally adopted in the area as a natural pairing with viticulture in a warm, arid environment, and were later joined by more expansive forms to increase yields.
• Today new counter-trellis (controspalliera) plantings are established mainly at a density of 4,348 vines per hectare, while where the pergola (tendone) system persists a density of 2,500 vines per hectare is used.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A0545
• Official trade body site — Consorzio di Tutela Vini DOC Castel del Monte