Orta Nova

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Accessory grape varieties

Terroir

• The soils tend toward clayey and clay-loam in certain areas, low in surface rock fragments and adequately supplied with mineral elements, with a good capacity to retain moisture.
• Where the crust (crusta) is near the surface, it is crushed during tillage, giving rise to white soils extremely rich in rock fragments but not in active limestone.
• The altitude of the areas under vine ranges from 60 to 250 metres above sea level, representing an altitudinal range of 190 metres, with a predominantly flat aspect.
• The climate is warm and arid, with highly variable annual rainfall ranging from 400 mm to 650 mm, approximately 70% of which falls during the autumn–winter period.
• During the vegetative period of the vine, from April to September, rainfall is very modest, averaging around 250 mm, while the long-term mean temperature pattern is characterised by high temperatures that rarely exceed 30–35 °C.

• With the donation of the territory to the Benedictine Abbey of Venosa by the Normans, the vine was replanted, initially for sacred purposes.
• In 1418, an inventory drawn up in the district of Orta recorded the abundance of stores — including wine stocks — held in the territory's warehouses.
• For red wines, a long maceration is practised with leaching of the skins, while rosé wines are produced by the lacrima method, a white-wine vinification of red grapes involving free-run must only.
• The traditional training systems of the zone are the spalliera, the controspalliera, and the tendone, with short or mixed pruning for the spalliera and controspalliera and longer pruning for the tendone.

• The red wine displays a ruby-red colour with violet highlights, tending slightly toward garnet with age.
• On the nose, notes of red fruit are evident — principally sour cherries and cherries — with spiced hints, while on the palate the wine is dry, warm, sec, and appropriately tannic.

• The excellent sunshine of September and October allows the grapes to ripen slowly and fully, contributing significantly to the distinctive organoleptic character of Orta Nova 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-A0558