Cortona

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The city of Cortona sits on a hill at approximately 600 metres above sea level, while the appellation extends across the surrounding hilly terrain and into the plain of the Val di Chiana.
• The tectonic depression of the Val di Chiana formed following the compressive phase that gave rise to the Apennines chain in the late Miocene, with subsequent marine incursion during the Pliocene and deposits of clays, sands, and silts.
• The climate is subject to continental influence in summer, with high temperatures and long hours of solar radiation that condition the final stage of the vegetative cycle, and marked diurnal temperature variation, especially in summer.
• Mean annual rainfall across the production area is consistent throughout the territory, ranging from 700 to 900 millimetres depending on the year.
• Zoning studies have identified soil differences between the zones of Farneta, Manzano, Fasciano, and Montecchio est, where clay content can reach 40% and above, compared with the more easterly zones of Montecchio est, San Lorenzo, and Pietraia, which have flat terrain with a predominance of sand and silt, and Montanare, which has deep sandy soils with gravel and a low clay content.

• Vine cultivation in the area predates the Roman period, with numerous Etruscan finds attesting to wine production in the territory of Cortona.
• Cortona Vin Santo may be released for consumption only after a mandatory ageing period of at least three years, including at least three months in bottle, from 15 December of the vintage year. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)
• With the advent of agricultural mechanisation before and after the war, traditional viticulture gave way to wide-spaced plantings, such as those funded by the FEOGA in the 1970s with a 3×2 metre spacing.

• The wines display characteristic and harmonious aromas, with a distinctive finish that is particularly evident in the Vin Santo style.

• The substantial phenolic endowment, combined with an excellent capacity to maintain high levels of acidity — to which the clay layers contribute by retaining a large water reserve in the subsoil — allows the great red wines in particular to attain notable levels of elegance and high ageing potential.
• The favourable mean annual temperature, the high sunshine hours in September and October, and the low summer rainfall allow the grapes to ripen slowly, contributing to the distinctive organoleptic characteristics of the wines of the Cortona area.

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-A1518
• Official trade body site — Consorzio di Tutela dei Vini DOC Cortona