Vermentino di Gallura

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The coastal zone features granite rocks smoothed and shaped by wind and water, while the interior is characterised by forests of oak, cork oak, and wild olive trees.
• The subsoil is predominantly granitic in origin, covered by layers of coarse-grained sand of varying depth, sometimes mixed with clay and thin strata of micronutrients beneficial to plant growth.
• Vermentino is cultivated both on soils at sea level and on mountain slopes up to 500 metres above sea level.
• The geological framework of the zone was formed approximately 300 million years ago during the Hercynian orogeny, when enormous masses of molten rock cooled slowly, giving rise to strata of rock with a crystalline structure and isotropic texture.
• The climate is warm-temperate with mild winters, and rainfall is concentrated in the autumn and winter months, generally remaining below 700 mm per year.
• A constant windiness characterises the Gallura zone, particularly saline in the areas close to the sea, resulting in grapes that are sound from a phytosanitary standpoint.

• Archaeological finds of askoid jugs bearing wine residues dating to the Middle and Recent Bronze Age (1400–1200 BC) attest to a flourishing winemaking activity in the Nuragic period in Gallura.
• The Vermentino variety, of presumed Spanish origin and introduced between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, was first recorded in Gallura by Angius; it was originally cultivated as a table grape, according to the Count of Rovasenda in 1877.

• Sandy soils, which are consequently high in skeletal material, are generally better suited to viticulture and yield wines that are aromatic, pleasant, and of good alcoholic strength.

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-A0903
• Official trade body site — Consorzio di Tutela del Vermentino di Gallura DOCG