Siracusa

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The production area lies predominantly on flat land and gentle hills at the foot of the Iblean Mountains.
• The climate is typically Mediterranean, with rainfall concentrated in autumn and winter and drought during the remaining months, for a mean annual precipitation of approximately 500 mm.
• The soils are mostly of Pliocene geological origin — brown calcareous lithosols and regosols, with a clay content of around 25% and a sub-alkaline reaction.
• The presence of rivers and the position at the foot of the Iblean Mountains ensure an abundant water supply within the production zone.

• In the nineteenth century, the finest Moscato di Siracusa was produced on white calcareous-clay soils between Siracusa and Floridia.
• Moscato di Siracusa was identified by Landolina Nava in 1802 with the Syracusan Pollio, described as the oldest wine of Italy, named after the Thracian king who ruled Siracusa in the seventh century BC.
• In 1848 the municipality of Siracusa counted approximately 1,400 hectares under vine, second only to Noto with 5,852, attesting to the importance of viticulture and winemaking in this area.
• Red wines made from Nero d'Avola, deeper in colour and higher in alcohol than those of Pachino, were in great demand around 1800 from the south of France, which redirected them towards the Gironde and Burgundy.
• In the second half of the nineteenth century the phylloxera invasion destroyed a large part of the island's vineyards, and in the Siracusa area, between 1884 and 1886, the vine was supplanted by other crops.

• The white calcareous soils typical of this area yield wines of excellent structure, fresh and with an aromatic profile characterised by a predominance of fruit-driven aromas.

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-A0802
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Tutela Vini Valdinoto (c/o Assovini Sicilia)