Oltrepò Pavese

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• Marls, arenaceous limestones, galestro and gypsum emerge across a pre-Apennine landscape marked by landslide instability and extensive erosion zones.
• Messinian stage (Miocene): pale yellow marls with calcareous lenses, in the communes of Montù Beccaria, Rovescala, Montescano, Canneto Pavese, Santa Giuletta and others.
• Eocene: galestro schists and scaly clays over approximately 19,000 ha of high hillside, with ophiolitic outcrops (gabbros) and marly limestone over approximately 16,000 ha of mid-to-lower hillside.
• Foothill belt: incoherent elastic terraced alluvial deposits of heterogeneous grain size, from the Piemonte border to Verzate and from Broni toward the Piacenza area.

• Vineyards documented in Oltrepò as early as 862–865, managed by the monks of the abbey of San Colombano in the Staffora valley. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)
• From the 11th century onward, viticulture expanded through the impetus of the great Pavian monasteries, with institutions such as San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro active since 974. (via Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0)

• Cenozoic hill soils comprising marls, arenaceous limestones, galestro and gypsum directly shape the mineral profile of Oltrepò wines.

Facts drawn from the cahier's terroir-link section (Lien au terroir) by automatic interpretation — see the source.

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A0971
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Tutela Vini Oltrepo Pavese