Oltrepò Pavese

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The landscape of the Oltrepò Pavese is pre-Apennine in character, marked by landslide instability and outcroppings of marls, calcareous sandstones, galestro, and gypsum.
• The Miocene formations comprise five distinct stages extending across more than 16,000 hectares within the hills and lower mountains of the area.
• The Eocene galestro schists and scaly clays extend over approximately 19,000 hectares, covering broad expanses of the upper hillside zone.
• A lithological unit exists consisting of lenticular bodies of medium- to coarse-grained crystalline gypsum, found in the vicinity of Garlassola, Mondondone, Corvino S. Quirico, Montepezzata, and Cà Bianca.
• Average rainfall distribution shows a peak in November (143 mm) and a minimum in July (47 mm), with an altitudinal gradient and a general decrease from east to west.
• In the hill belt up to 600 m elevation, mean annual temperature is approximately 11–12 °C, while the 0 °C isotherm at around 800 m marks the boundary between the hill zone and the mountain zone.

• Strabo, in the first century BC, credited the Oltrepò Pavese with the invention of the barrel, which he described in his writings as larger than houses.
• In 1884 the Oltrepò Pavese counted approximately 225 native grape varieties, whereas today roughly a dozen remain in widespread cultivation.
• Oltrepò Pavese wine was recognised as a DOC by Presidential Decree of 6 August 1970, following a viticultural tradition in which it had long held the role of the territory's principal crop.
• In 1902 the first cooperative winery (Cantina Sociale) was founded, introducing the principles of specialised vineyard management and the rationalisation of training systems and clonal selection for quality production.

• In the higher, cooler, and rainier areas best suited to sparkling wine bases and white wines, the wines are broad and complex, with floral notes accompanied by ripe fruit, dried-herb fragrances, and herbal and spiced overtones.
• The wide diurnal temperature ranges of this area yield a fresh wine with a pleasantly crisp acidic note and good structure on the palate.
• In the areas best suited to red winemaking, the wines show floral notes of violet, red fruits, cooked fruit such as plum, dried herbs, and spice.
• On tasting, these red wines display great body deriving from their structure and good alcoholic strength, with restrained acidity.

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-A0971
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Tutela Vini Oltrepo Pavese