Circeo

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The production zone extends across approximately 17,500 hectares in the southern part of the Agro Pontino, in the province of Latina, along the coastal strip of Lazio.
• The most superficial soils date from the Quaternary and derive from continental fluvio-lacustrine, aeolian, and pyroclastic sediments originating from the Lepini-Ausoni mountains or from the nearby Lazio volcano.
• The sandy complex known as Duna Antica, with a thickness ranging from a few tens of metres to approximately one hundred, was formed by wind action over earlier coastal-brackish sandy deposits of organogenic calcareous sands from the Middle-Lower Pleistocene.
• Moving inland, the recent continental formations give way to fluvio-palustrine deposits with alternating sandy, sandy-clayey, and travertine layers, along with numerous peat levels formed in the piedmont depression.
• The vineyards are cultivated at altitudes ranging from 0 to 541 metres above sea level, with variable slopes and a general westward aspect.
• The climate is Mediterranean in type, with a lower meso-Mediterranean thermotype and a lower sub-humid ombrotype, mean annual rainfall between 842 and 996 mm, and a dry period from May to August (64–89 mm of rain).

• In the Roman era, Cecubo wine was produced in the territory of Amyclae and on the Cecubi hills, as attested by Horace, Vitruvius Pollio, Pliny, and Columella, the latter also referring to cultivation at Gaeta and Formia.
• From the Renaissance onward, with the first drainage works on the Pontine marshes undertaken by Pope Leo X and continued by Sixtus V and Pius VI, viticulture in the area began a slow recovery that culminated in the early twentieth century, when 1,500 hectares of vineyards were under cultivation in the zone.

• Circeo rosso displays good structure and polymerised polyphenolic content that lend fullness of body and an absence of roughness, with a more or less intense ruby-red colour and a dry, full, and harmonious palate.
• Circeo bianco is a fresh and well-balanced wine of more or less intense straw-yellow colour, with a fragrant, harmonious, and fruity nose and a dry, fresh, and harmonious palate.

• The climate, characterised by adequate rainfall, scarce summer precipitation, and good sunshine in September and October, allows the grapes to ripen slowly and fully, contributing to the organoleptic characteristics of the wine.
• The combination of soil characteristics and climatic factors leads, in the white wines, to the production of significant quantities of aromatic precursors that enhance the typical aromas of the various grape varieties.

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-A0700