Moscadello di Montalcino

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The hilly territory of Montalcino is bounded by the valleys of the rivers Orcia, Asso, and Ombrone, and ranges in elevation from approximately 120 metres to approximately 650 metres above sea level.
• The climate is Mediterranean, generally dry, with continental overtones owing to the intermediate position between the sea and the mountains of the Central Apennines.
• Rainfall, concentrated in the spring and autumn months, averages approximately 700 millimetres per year, and above 400 metres snowfall is possible in winter.
• The mid-slope zone is not affected by fog, frost, or late frosts, and the frequent presence of wind ensures the best conditions for the phytosanitary health of the vines.
• The hill of Montalcino presents numerous pedological environments formed in different geological eras, associated with sandstones — sometimes mixed with limestones — with alberese and with galestro, and with textures that are sometimes sandy, sometimes clayey.

• In 1540 the writer Pietro Aretino, in a letter sent from Venice, thanked a friend by praising him for the gift of a small cask of Moscadello, described as precious, delicate, rounded, light, and lightly sparkling.
• The physician and poet Francesco Redi composed in 1685 the Bacco in Toscana, extolling the Moscadello di Montalcino as a graceful and divine little Moscadelletto.

• The wine presents a pale straw yellow in the Frizzante style, deeper in the Tranquillo style, and tending toward golden in the Vendemmia Tardiva style.
• The nose is characterised by a balanced and fresh Muscat aroma, with floral nuances in the type with appassimento, while on the palate the Tranquillo is sweet and harmonious, the Frizzante has a lively mousse, and the Vendemmia Tardiva has an enveloping quality.

• The generally low-organic-matter, calcareous soils with a relative lack of water allow the Moscato Bianco variety to develop with restrained vigour and consequently limited yields.
• The ventilation and degree of sunlight exposure make it possible to obtain grapes at perfect ripeness and in good phytosanitary condition.

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-A1440
• Official trade body site — Consorzio del vino Brunello di Montalcino