Valle Belice

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The soils of the zone are mainly Regosols, formed from argillaceous rocks with a neutral to alkaline reaction.
• Brown soils with up to 35% clay and a sub-alkaline reaction are also present, as are clay-rich Vertisols low in organic matter.
• Fresh, deep, slightly alkaline alluvial soils are also found, in an association typical of the inner clay hill country of Sicily.
• The morphology of the territory is generally undulating, with variously sloping hillsides giving way to flat areas at their base.
• The climate is typically Mediterranean, with mean annual rainfall of 700 mm concentrated in autumn and winter, and maximum temperatures ranging from around 11 °C in January–February to 28–30 °C in July and August.

• Near Menfi stood the ancient Inycum, a noted wine-producing settlement watered by the river Hipsas (today the Belice), whose excellence is attested by Stephanus of Byzantium.
• The local contrade bear witness to a great number of agricultural estates from the Greek-Selinuntine period (6th century BC), as evidenced by the discovery of fragments of roof tiles, cinerary urns, and wine amphorae.
• In 1953, Garoglio, in his Trattato di Enologia, describes the Bianco di Menfi as a full-bodied, sapid, harmonious wine with pronounced roundness on the palate, dry.

• The texture and physico-chemical structure of the soils interact in a determining way with vine cultivation, contributing to the attainment of the distinctive physico-chemical and organoleptic characteristics of the wines.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• Regional grape register (PDF) — sicilia
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PGI-IT-A0811
• Official trade body site — Istituto Regionale del Vino e dell'Olio di Sicilia (IRVO)