Montescudaio

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The soils of the production zone range from the clay soils typical of the hill belt, to the medium-textured, iron-rich soils of the intermediate belt, through to the loose soils of the valley floors and plains.
• Each soil type found in the zone may sometimes be rich in skeleton, meaning it can present a significant stony component.
• The hillside vineyards are situated at an average altitude of between 200 and 400 metres above sea level, with suitable aspect and orientation.
• The climate of the area falls within the broader climatic complex known as the Tuscan inland hills, with average annual rainfall of between 750 and 850 mm, concentrated mainly in autumn and winter.
• The grape-growing production zone encompasses the administrative territories of the communes of Casale Marittimo, Castellina Marittima, Guardistallo, Montecatini Val di Cecina, Montescudaio, Riparbella, and Santa Luce, in the southern part of the province of Pisa.

• The presence of the vine in this territory can be traced with certainty to the Etruscan era, thanks to the discovery of the Montescudaio cinerary urn from the seventh century BC, which depicts a funerary banquet featuring a krater vessel for mixing wine and water in the Greek fashion.
• In 1092, Gherardo della Gherardesca donated a church, vineyards, and other endowments to the monastery he had founded, reserving for himself the right to elect the Mother Superior.
• In 1968 the Sagra del vino was established, and by Decree of the President of the Republic of 2 November 1976 the first production rulebook was approved, defining for the first time the production zone of the Montescudaio DOC wines.
• DOC status was obtained in 1977 with two wine types: a red based on Sangiovese, Trebbiano, Malvasia, Canaiolo, and Colorino, and a white based on Trebbiano, Malvasia, and Vermentino, also produced as a dry, off-dry, or sweet Vin Santo.
• From the early 1970s onwards, the shift from sharecropping (mezzadria) to direct estate management brought about the complete restructuring of the old mixed-cultivation row vineyards into new, specialised vineyards designed for ease of mechanisation.

• All the red, white, and Vin Santo wines of the appellation display well-balanced chemical and physical characteristics across all the wine types produced.
• On the nose and palate, the predominant aromas typical of the base grape varieties used in producing the appellation's wines are apparent.

• The climate of the area influences grape ripening and affects both cellar temperatures and working conditions during harvest, becoming a defining element of the finished wine.

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-A1437
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Vino Montescudaio DOC