The DOC sparkling wines of Umbria, Italy

Umbria, one of the smallest of the Italian regions, lies almost dead center on the peninsula and is the only region that does not border on a body of water or a country.

Italian regions map with Umbria as the beating heart of the boot
(Source:sottasoprainc.blogspot.com)

Umbria lies in the cultural and vinous shadows of its northwestern neighbor Tuscany but is renowned in its own right for its lush, rolling hills, its hilltop villages (Assisi, Perugia, Orvieto, Spoleto, Todi, Spello, Gubbio), and unique historic towns.

Assissi

Author and spouse in Umbria

Grapegrowing at Carmine Estate

Looking down on the great Umbrian Valley from the hills 

above Cannara

Umbria's main business activity is agriculture, with olive oil, truffles, sunflowers, and wine grapes as the primary offerings.

The Umbrian climate is continental; cold, rainy winters and dry summers. This climate is modified by the waters of Lake Trasimeno in the area west of Perugia.

Geologic processes through the ages have resulted in the following soils distribution in Umbria:

• Alluvial sediments and debris along major river valleys
• Gravels, sands, and clays deposited during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene
• Marly deposits during the Oligocene - Miocene
• Stratigraphic Umbria-Marche deposits from the Jurassic-Miocene
• In the southwest, volcanic deposits from the eruptions of the Vulsino volcano.

This distribution is illustrated graphically in the figure below.

Schematic geologic map of Umbria.
Blue = Limestone; Gold = Sandstone rocks;
 Yellow = Inter-mountain basins; and
Purple = Volcanic complexes (Source:
Andrea Moti, researchgate.net)

Between 600,000 and 800,000 hl of wine is produced annually, a total that is 1/3 of Tuscany's production and places the region 14th or 15th of the 20 Italian regions. The region is known for its white wines (18% of its wines are from the Orvieto DOC) from the Trebbiano and Grechetto varieties but its only two DOCGs (Sagrantino di Montefalco and Torgianno Rosso Riserva) are red wines made from the Sagrantino and Sangoiovese varieties, respectively. Sangiovese represents 22% of the vine plantings while Trebbiano and Grechetto come in at 17% and 13%, respectively. Most of the vineyards are planted on terraces that have been cut into the hillsides.

As shown in the chart below, Umbria has six sparkling wine DOCs distributed over its surface area.

A few observations:

• None of the major Umbria DOC/DOCGs (Sagrantino de Montefalco DOCG, Torgiano Rosso Riserva DOCG, and Orvieto DOC) produce any sparkling wine
• A small number of varieties (six) have been formally designated by name for the production of sparkling wine. Only Valle d'Aosta (one) and Liguria (three) have fewer identified sparkling-wine-designated varieties
• A preponderance of the international varieties have been designated as raw material for sparkling wine production in Umbria. Only Spoleto DOC -- of the six sparkling wine DOCs identified in the chart above -- does not specify, by name, one of the international varieties for use in the production of its sparkling wine.
• Three of the sparkling wine DOCs are located in the north of the region, one in the middle, and two in the south.
• Two Metodo-Classico-only DOCs and one Charmat-only DOC. The remaining four DOCs allow a mix of both production methods
• The Spoleto DOC wine could have been designated a varietal sparkling wine.

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In this post I have continued on my path to identify and map each sparkling wine DOC/DOCG in Italy. To date I have completed the mapping of Northern Italy as well as Toscana and Umbria (herein) of Central Italy. My next effort will identify the sparkling wines of Marche.


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