Elba

Mediterranean island off tuscany. Viticulture played an important role in the economy of the island in the ancient world, and pliny described Elba as ‘insula vini ferax’ (an island with abundant production of wine). This continued until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a quarter of the cultivated surface was occupied by vines. Emigration from the island and the increasing attractions of the booming tourist industry have drastically reduced the role of wine in the overall economic picture, however, to the point where hardly 100 ha/250 acres of the Elba doc are in production, three-quarters of it white wine. The whole of Elba is covered by one DOC, called Elba, with whites based on trebbiano Toscano, vermentino, and Ansonica (Sicily’s inzolia), and reds on the ubiquitous sangiovese. The one docg is a sweet dried-grape wine, the red aleatico passito.