Oltrepò Pavese

Oltrepò Pavese, lombardy’s most sizeable viticultural area, administratively part of piemonte from 1741 to 1859, extends across the hills of a series of communes in the province of Pavia south of the Po river where the land begins to rise towards the Ligurian Apennines (the name means ‘beyond the Po, in the Pavia region’). In 2012, vineyards totalled 11,657 ha/28,792 acres, of which 9,457 ha were registered for doc wines. Oltrepò Pavese is also the name of an extensive, over-arching DOC, encompassing six DOCs and one docg, which lack true significance because production regulations and the permitted grape varieties are practically identical to those of the Oltrepò Pavese DOC. This is especially true of the DOC Pinot Grigio dell’Oltrepò Pavese and the DOC Pinot Nero dell’Oltrepò Pavese. Of real significance, however, is the DOCG Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico for traditional method sparkling wines based on at least 70% Pinot Noir with Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and/or Pinot Bianco, and a minimum of 15 months on lees, 24 months for vintage-dated wines. Oltrepò Pavese has been producing base wines for sparkling winemakers since the 19th century and the large spumante houses of Piemonte have long relied on this neighbouring zone in Lombardy for varieties not cultivated in their own region. Significant amounts of bulk wine have always been sold in nearby Milan, encouraging abundant production at extremely low prices; the quality of Oltrepò wines has thus gained little from its proximity to Italy’s largest and most affluent urban market. The small size of the properties (1.8 ha per grower) and the significant role played by co-operatives have also tended to reward quantity over quality.

If the vast majority of the Oltrepò’s production is not particularly interesting, there is no doubt that good, and occasionally very good, wine is made in this zone. One of the most interesting is the blended red Oltrepò Rosso, which is based on barbera grapes to which croatina (confusingly called Bonarda, the name of a quite different, generally inferior grape variety here) adds spice and body and uva rara gives sweetness and aroma. Regrettably this blend accounts for only a small fraction of the total DOC production although there is a total of about 2,000 ha of each of Barbera and Croatina planted. Together with Uva Rara they form the blends for the DOCs Buttafuoco dell’Oltrepò Pavese and Sangue di Giuda dell’Oltrepò Pavese. The bland Riesling Italico (see welschriesling) is the most significant white wine grape with a total of 1,172 ha planted. Many of these wines, both white and red, come in a lightly sparkling version, while Pinot Noir is principally used for spumante, most of whose production is controlled by the co-operatives and most of which is correct but hardly inspiring. An occasional good bottle of Oltrepò spumante and an occasional bottle of still Pinot Noir, given a Burgundian treatment and aged in oak, indicate that the variety has real, if as yet unrealized, potential in the zone, although it currently lags far behind franciacorta.