|
Lombardy is nestled in the north-west of Italy, bordered by Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige. Although landlocked, the region is not entirely without the cooling influence of water: lakes Como, Iseo, Maggiore and Garda (the latter which Lombardy shares with its neighbors Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige) dominate its northern half. These bring more than just vista-seeking tourists to Lombardy – they also help to temper the climates of their respective vineyard zones.
Vines have been cultivated around the shores of Lake Garda for centuries. The climate-moderating effect of each of these lakes is particularly valuable in the cooler, more elevated areas. Valtellina, framed dramatically by the Southern Alps, is a good example of this, as is Franciacorta, whose vines grow in the hills just south of Lake Iseo. Lower down, in the region's south and east, the landscape consists more of low hills and plains. Most notable among Lombardy's low-lying vineyards are those in the Po Basin: Oltrepo Pavese, Mantovano and San Colombano al Lambro.
Lombardy's location between the Alps and the Po Basin grants it an impressive diversity of mesoclimates. For example, the vineyards of Valtellina sit at altitudes between 750ft (230m) and 2500ft (765m), and are cooled by alpine breezes which blow east-west down the valley. Due to the alpine continental macroclimate here, diurnal temperature variation is high: the sun-baked slopes lose their heat rapidly as the sun goes down. This is dramatically different from the relatively stable climate found lower down on the plains, where average humidity and temperatures are higher.
Despite Lombardy being Italy’s industrial powerhouse and Milan being its commercial centre, this region is abundant in unspoilt countryside and home to many small-scale wineries. These contribute a significant proportion of the region's annual output of 1.5 million hL of wine.
A large and geographically complex region, Lombardy is well placed to offer a wide range of wine styles, and is home to five DOCG and 20 DOC titles. The Oltrepo Pavese zone stands out among these as one of the larger, better-known regions, not only for its sparkling Oltrepo Pavese Metodo Classico DOCG, but more recently for its Pinot Grigio, which since 2008 has had its own independent DOC (Oltrepo Pavese Pinot Grigio). Franciacorta, the second of Lombardy's two sparkling DOCG wines, is from the rapidly developing and well-regarded vineyards between Brescia and Lake Iseo.
The remote, alpine Valtellina has two DOCG wines to its name: Valtellina Superiore and the distinctive, dried-grape amarone-style Sforzato di Valtellina, which are based on Chiavennasca, the Lombardian form of Piedmont's Nebbiolo.
In the east, the western banks of Lake Garda generate distinctive Garda and Lambrusco Mantovano wines, where the red wines are perceptibly influenced by Valpolicella's Rondinella grape. As is the case all over Italy, highly marketable 'international' varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are increasingly popular in eastern Lombardy, although white varieties Trebbiano Toscano and Garganega are holding their ground well (but at the expense of traditional, local varieties such as Schiava and Marzemino).
South of Lake Garda is the Lugana DOC, a star wine boasting lively and crisp whites from Trebbiano di Lugana – a more 'noble' form of the Trebbiano grape, and one of very few Trebbiano wines to show any depth or complexity. A number of high-quality vino da tavola wines now come from the Garda area, made generally from such 'international' varieties as Merlot and Cabernet (known as the Bordeaux duo). These grapes are also found in the Bergamo heights of the pre-Alps in Valcepio, where they are toe-to-toe with France's two other most famous varieties, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. At the southern end of the region, by the waters of the Po river, San Colombano is a home for traditional northern Italian red varieties, and uses Croatina, Barbera and Uva Rara for its rosso wine.
|
