Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The territory encompasses the landscape of Contrafforti and Rupi, with tabular or cliff-like relief composed of stratified sandstones with the presence of marls and conglomerates.
• On the left bank of the Lavino, the landscape of Colli con Frane e Calanchi is found, with a substrate of Argille Scagliose formed by masses of calcareous, arenaceous, or marly rocks.
• Vines are grown at elevations ranging on average from 50 to 400 metres above sea level, on fine-textured soils with variable calcium carbonate content, or on moderately fine-textured soils with a high silt component and high calcareous content.
• Mean annual rainfall ranges from 800 mm on the plain to 1,200 mm on the upper hills, with mean temperatures between 14 °C and 12 °C.
• On the lower hills, the water balance shows a moderate annual deficit of up to 350 mm, considered a positive factor because summer water stress promotes sugar concentration and aromatic synthesis in ripening grapes.
• Growing degree-day totals range from 4,500 to 4,900 on the lower hills, and the Winkler Index reaches maximum values of approximately 2,100 in the lower-elevation zones.

• A document dated 973 AD attests that the Bishop of Bologna, Alberto, granted the Bishop of Parma, together with the Abbey, approximately thirty tornature of vineyards on the hills of Monteveglio.
• In the fourteenth century, Pier de' Crescenzi, in his treatise Ruralium commordorum, described the local white wine as appreciated for its pleasantness and its lively, golden foam, indicating that the sparkling tipologia was already well known.
• The traditional training systems in use today are the spalliera, the spur-trained cordon, and the Guyot, all with short pruning, chosen as best suited to quality-oriented production.
• The ancestral method of bottle refermentation has been joined by the use of autoclaves following the metodo Martinotti-Charmat, improving yeast selection and the cleanliness of the wines.

• The still wine displays a perceptible minerality linked to the clayey and particularly calcareous soils of the production zone.
• The sparkling (frizzante), spumante, and quality spumante wines maintain a characteristic aromatic freshness and acidity thanks to the combination of the continental climate, the well-draining pebble- and silt-rich soils, and the marked diurnal temperature variation, especially during the summer months.

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

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• Specification (EUR-Lex, single document)
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A0284
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Vini Colli Bolognesi