Valle d'Itria

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The soils are red earths derived from the dissolution of limestone rocks, insoluble residues composed of iron and aluminium oxides and hydroxides.
• The soils, which are clayey and silty-clayey, contain a high proportion of skeleton material, reaching approximately 60% of total constituents.
• The vine-growing areas lie between 280 and 418 metres above sea level, with an altitudinal range of 138 metres, gentle slopes, and predominantly south-easterly aspects.
• The climate is hot and arid, with highly variable annual rainfall ranging from 400 mm to 800 mm, approximately 70% of which falls during the autumn–winter period.
• The zone coincides with the southern portion of the Murge plateau, also known as the Valle dei Trulli, encompassing the area between Locorotondo, Cisternino, and Martina Franca.

• The dialect word «mir», later rendered by Latin speakers as «merum» to denote a straightforward and honest wine, was already in use among the Apulian peoples of the Iapyges and the Messapians who settled in southern Puglia in the eleventh century BC.
• The predominant training systems in the zone are the Alberello, the modified Alberello trained on a trellis (Alberello modificato a Spalliera), and the Controspalliera, with short spur pruning for the Alberello and mixed pruning for the other two systems.

• Novelli wines have a ruby-red or more or less intense rosé colour, a fruity aroma with notes derived from carbonic maceration, and a flavour ranging from dry to off-dry with good acidity.
• Spumanti wines range in colour from more or less intense straw-yellow with possible golden highlights to more or less pale rosé, with a delicate, fruity nose and a palate ranging from dry to medium-sweet.

• The hot, arid climate with scarce summer rainfall and drought conditions in July and August, combined with excellent sunshine hours through September and October, allows the grapes to ripen slowly and fully, contributing to the qualitative characteristics of the wines.

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 PGI-IT-A0604