Controguerra

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The geographical area is hilly and encompasses the administrative territories of just five communes in the upper Teramo province: Controguerra, Torano Nuovo, Ancarano, Corropoli, and Colonnella, on the border with the Marche.
• The soils consist of Plio-Pleistocene deposits that filled the peri-Adriatic basin through a marine sedimentary cycle occurring between the end of the Tertiary and the beginning of the Quaternary, clay-silt in nature with looser intercalations toward the coastal section.
• For the production of Controguerra DOC wines, vineyard altitude must not exceed 440 metres above sea level, and the soils must have adequate hydraulic and agronomic drainage management.
• Mean annual rainfall is approximately 740 millimetres, spread over around 73 rainy days per year, with a wetter period between October and December averaging roughly 80 millimetres per month and an absolute minimum in July of around 40 millimetres.
• The climate is temperate and tends toward warm-temperate during the summer months, with a mean annual temperature of 15.4 °C and peaks of 24.5 °C in July and August during the growing season.

• The Greek historian Polybius, who lived between 205 and 123 BC, records that in 216 BC, after the Battle of Cannae, the area was renowned for wines that had healed the wounded and restored the strength of soldiers.
• The variety Montepulciano must account for at least 70% of the red, rosato, novello, and passito rosso wines, with any complementary red varieties making up up to 30%.
• The passito wine, white or red, may carry the designation 'Annoso' on the label if aged for 30 months from 31 March of the year following the harvest in caratelli with a maximum capacity of 500 litres.
• From the second half of the nineteenth century, viticulture in the Teramo area was modernised through the efforts of Giuseppe Devincenzi and Giuseppe Montori, who introduced new cultivation and winemaking techniques.

• The red wine displays a ruby colour of varying intensity with slight violet hues, an aroma ranging from vinous to ethereal depending on age, and a dry, lightly tannic, and harmonious palate.
• The white wines are straw yellow in colour, of varying depth, with floral and fruity aromas, good structure, and a fairly firm acidity that imparts freshness, elegance, and drinkability.
• The sparkling wines show excellent acidity, a fine and persistent perlage, and aromas and flavours characteristic of extended bottle fermentation.

• The considerable diurnal temperature variation, favoured by the proximity of the Gran Sasso massif and the Monti della Laga, together with good ventilation, creates optimal conditions for grape health and the accumulation of aromatic compounds in the clusters.

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-A0879
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Tutela Vini d'Abruzzo