Noto

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The delimited geographical zone falls within the extreme south-eastern tip of Sicily, with a predominantly flat to gently hilly topography, ranging from 0 to 300 metres above sea level.
• The climate is warm, arid Mediterranean, with mean temperatures around 17.6 degrees Celsius — among the highest in Sicily — peaking in the months of July and August.
• Mean annual rainfall is approximately 400 millimetres, with precipitation concentrated in the autumn–winter period and very little rain during the summer months.
• Soils are predominantly calcareous brown in type, with a moderate content of organic matter and a good supply of mineral nutrients.
• Regosols derived from argillaceous rocks are also present, both purely clayey and clay-calcareous in character, alongside calcareous soils and Mediterranean red soils within the production zone.

• The town of Pachino, founded in 1760, takes its name from two Greek words — 'Pachis' (abundant) and 'oinos' (wine) — attesting to the area's long-standing vocation for viticulture.
• The Nero d'Avola variety is mentioned for the first time between 1774 and 1777 by the Florentine Domenico Sistini, who describes its production as an 'excellent quality of wine'.
• At the end of the nineteenth century, wines from Pachino, produced exclusively from Nero d'Avola in the areas of Noto, Avola, and Pachino, were in great demand from the south of France, which redirected them towards the Gironde and Burgundy.
• In 1848 the commune of Noto could boast 1,764 hectares of vineyard, while Avola counted 527, and Pachino, by 1929, reached approximately 3,000 hectares.
• New plantings and replantings must be trained as free-standing bush vines (alberello) or counter-espalier, with a density of 4,000 vines per hectare for red-berried varieties and 3,500 vines per hectare for yellow-berried varieties. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

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-A0790
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Tutela Vini Valdinoto (c/o Assovini Sicilia)