The Colli di Luni DOC, which was created in 1989, is the largest denomination, both in terms of volume of wine and number of wineries. It is also one of very few Italian wine appellations to cross regional boundaries.
The Lunigiana is an ambiguous region. It has no clear, official boundaries. The area straddles Tuscany and Liguria, where the borderline resembles a jagged jigsaw puzzle (the result of a truce brokered by Dante Alighieri in 1304 between the Archbishop of Luni and the ruling Malaspina family of Ortonovo). “The Ligurians think of us as Tuscans and the Tuscans think of us as Ligurians,” said Elisabetta Morescalchi, who manages the Enoteca Regionale della Liguria in Castelnuovo Magra, in the heart of the Lunigiana. “Sometimes we’re not even sure ourselves who we are!
The Lunigiana comprises the area south of the Cinque Terre and north of Carrara, with the Apennine Mountains and Apuan Alps to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The mountains form a kind of semicircular barrier enclosing an expansive coastal plain, the steep eastern hills dividing a relatively small area into a range of distinct microclimates. In this area, two regions meet and intermingle. Tuscany is represented by Sangiovese, Liguria by its standard-bearer, Vermentino; but the wines they produce here are notably different.
The border cuts right through vineyards, creating bureaucratic problems. Regardless of which side of the marker it falls on, the soil is loose and sandy with lots of rounded stones deposited by the Magra River.
At other vineyards the land can be fairly flat, the soil here rust-red with blackened deposits that crumble in your hand where they used to mine lignite. The brownish coal provided local employment until the mines were shut down in 1953.
Up into the mountains to another vineyard suspended high above the sea. Here the soil is less sandy; schist and limestone take the place of river stones and the steeply terraced vines quiver under a noticeably cooler breeze. “The different microclimates make different wines,”
The area’s wines fall mainly under two DOCs and an IGT (Indication of Geographic Typicity).
Grapes destined for any DOC wine in Colli di Luni must harvested to a yield no greater than 12ha.
Red Wines
The red wines must contain between 60-70% Sangiovese with Pollera nera, Canaiolo and Ciliegiolo collectively making up 15-40% of the blend and other local red varieties, such as Barsaglina,Bracciola nera, Colombana near and Vermentino nero permitted up to a maximum of 25% with the finished wine needing to attain a minimum alcohol level of at least 11.5%.
A riserva bottling can also be produced with wines that attain at least 12.5% alcohol level and are aged a minimum of two years prior to release.
White Wines
The white blends must contain at least 35% Vermentino and often contain much more along with 25-40% Trebbiano and no more than 30% of other local white grape varieties. The wines must attain a minimum alcohol level of at least 11%.
A separate varietal Vermentino is also permitted to be produced provided that grape accounts for at least 90% of the wine.
History
In 79 AD Pliny the Elder wrote that “the wine of Luna carries off the palm of Tuscany” (an ancient Roman way of saying it takes the prize). In 177 BCE, the Romans founded a city they named Luni, after Luna, their goddess of the moon. Located near the present-day border of Tuscany and Liguria, the port city grew up along the primary route between Rome and the Gallic colonies (present-day France), becoming an important commercial and cultural center for the surrounding area, known as the Lunigiana. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Luni was repeatedly sacked by pirates and barbarian hoards and quickly declined. Over time the Magra River, which cuts diagonally across the Lunigiana from the mountains to the sea, deposited silt, making the once-bustling port city landlocked. Then malaria infested the humid swampland, forcing people to flee into the nearby hills. By 1058, Luni was abandoned (it is now a protected archeological site). The Lunigiana, however, remains, even if it’s not always easy to say exactly where it begins and ends.
“Tasting Bosoni and Giuliani’s basic 2011 vermentinos are simple, fresh, appealing wines with 12.5 percent alcohol, while their higher-altitude single-vineyard wines from the same vintage, Terenzuola’s Fosso di Corsano and Lunae’s Cavigno, have more character as well as heft (14 and 13.5 percent alcohol respectively). The impact of terroir is further accentuated by handling. Grape yields from hilly vineyards tend to be lower than vineyards in the plain, fermentation time is longer and so is aging. Vermentinos of Colli di Luni come across as softer and rounder than most Ligurian vermentinos, with a lower-toned acidity and subtler minerality, but lighter and more elegant than those from farther south, such as Sardinia.”
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