Orvieto wine

L’Orvieto is one the most famous Italian wines, in Italian and all around the world.

Orvieto wine has been produced since the Roman Age: Etruscans produced a sweet wine famous in the Roman Empire.

During the Middle Age, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Orvieto became a papal stronghold and one of the richest city of Italy. Orvieto wine became more and more famous and the wine was renamed “the Pope’s wine”.

When the Orvieto cathedreal was built it was used to pay the construction works. Luca Signorelli, the Italian Renaiisance painter who painted the frescoes of the Last Judgment in the Cathedreal of Orvieto, asked to the paid with 1.000 litres of Orvieto wine every year.

Gabriele D’Annunzio, an Italian poet and dandy, renamed the white wine of Orvieto “the Sun of Italy”.

Today there are four different types of Orvieto DOC (DOC is a mark thath guarantees the quality of a wine):

  • Orvieto DOC
  • Orvieto Classico DOC, which is produced in the ancient area of production of Orvieto wine
  • Orvieto Superiore DOC, wine obtained with a low-yeld and so of superior quality in respect of Orvieto DOC
  • Orvieto Classico Superiore DOC, which is produced in the ancient area of production of Orvieto wine with low-yeld and which is the top-quality Orvieto.

Orvieto Classico DOC

The grapes used to produce Orvieto Classico DOC are:

  • Trebbiano o Procanico: minimum 20% maximum 40%
  • Grechetto: minimum 40%.
  • Altri vitigini non aromatici e idonei alla coltivazione in Umbria: massimo 40%

The wine produced in the ancient are of production of Orvieto is Classico.

The wine, if produced with a low-yeld (which means higher quality) of less then 8.000 Kilos/hectar (the ordinary production is 11.000 Kilos/hectar), is called Superiore.

Orvietano Rosso o Rosso Orvietano DOC

In the Orvieto area there is also a wonderful red wind: Rosso Orvietano DOC, which is produced using these grapes:

  • Principal grapes: Aleatico, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo Rosso, Ciliegiolo, Merlot, Montepulciano, Pinot Nero, Sangiovese – at least 70%.
  • Secondary grapes: Aleatico, Barbera, Cesanese comune, Colorino, Dolcetto da soli – maximum 30%.

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