Roma

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The geographical zone extends over approximately 330,000 hectares in the central part of Lazio, encompassing the coastline, the Sabina romana, the Colli Albani, the Colli Prenestini, and part of the Campagna romana.
• The soils date to the Quaternary and are divided into sedimentary formations (travertine, sands, gravels, silts, clays, and calcarenites) and volcanic formations linked to the Sabatino complex and the Vulcano laziale.
• Among the volcanic soils, the pozzolane stand out — uncemented ash deposits yielding sandy, deep, and permeable soils — while the litoidal tuffs are of low or negligible permeability and require deep subsoiling to allow vine root development.
• The vineyards are cultivated between 0 and 600 metres above sea level, with variable slope gradients and a general aspect oriented toward the west, southwest, and south.
• The climate is temperate Mediterranean, with mean annual rainfall between 810 and 1,233 mm and summer drought in July and August, when only 73–147 mm of rain falls; the dry conditions are also more pronounced in June and sometimes May at lower elevations.
• Mean annual temperature ranges from 12.8 to 15.6 °C, with a prolonged cold period from November to April and a mean minimum temperature in the coldest month of between 2.3 and 4.0 °C.

• In 1539, Sante Lancerio, cellarmaster to Pope Paul III Farnese, described the wines of the Roman area, citing those from vineyards on the Gianicolo, in the Vatican, and at Monte Mario as the finest.
• The grape varieties authorised for production are those traditionally cultivated in the area, including Malvasia del Lazio, Bellone, Bombino bianco, Trebbiano giallo, and Trebbiano verde for whites, and Montepulciano, Cesanese di Affile, Cesanese Comune, and Sangiovese for reds.

• Roma rosso displays a ruby-red colour with violet highlights tending toward garnet with age, an intense and fruity nose, and a palate ranging from dry to off-dry with good structure.
• Roma rosso Riserva shows fruity aromas that shade toward spiced or phenolic notes associated with wood.

• The accumulation of malic acid in the white wines is favoured by the combination of mildly acidic, potassium-rich volcanic soils and the pronounced diurnal temperature variation in the steeper zones.
• The clay fraction of the alluvial soils of volcanic origin, combined with low yields per hectare and significant diurnal temperature variation, allows the red grapes to ripen slowly and fully.

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-A0759
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Roma DOC