In the new land this great white grape variety found a particularly favourable habitat, so much so that from the Neapolitan volcanic soils, it was later brought inland to the hills of Tufo, where, thanks to the calcareous clay soils with very high amounts of sulfur and other minerals and the hilly orography of the area, it had its greatest development. With the advent of the Roman Empire, the production of Greco di Tufo became a real socio-economic activity. Since then, it has always represented a constant presence in the local economy. In the 19th century, when the first railway of Irpinia was built − later called the “Wine Railway” − directly connecting the major winemaking areas of Sabato and Calore with the major Italian and European markets, Tufo had two stations, one in the village and another one in the nearby Prata di Principato Ultra.
IRPINIA
GRAPE VARIETIES
GRECO DI TUFO
THE HISTORY
When, in the 8th century BC, the Greeks landed on the Neapolitan shores, they brought with them the precious rootstocks of their wines.
In the new land this great white grape variety found a particularly favourable habitat, so much so that from the Neapolitan volcanic soils, it was later brought inland to the hills of Tufo, where, thanks to the calcareous clay soils with very high amounts of sulfur and other minerals and the hilly orography of the area, it had its greatest development. With the advent of the Roman Empire, the production of Greco di Tufo became a real socio-economic activity.
Since then, it has always represented a constant presence in the local economy. In the 19th century, when the first railway of Irpinia was built − later called the “Wine Railway” − directly connecting the major winemaking areas of Sabato and Calore with the major Italian and European markets, Tufo had two stations, one in the village and another one in the nearby Prata di Principato Ultra.
GRAPE VARIETY
Greco is a white grape variety that thrives well in soils rich in clay, limestone, and mineral compounds.
When it blooms it has a shoot with globose, cottony bud apex, whitish green with yellowish edges. The leaf is medium-sized, orbicular, almost always trilobed, sometimes pentalobed. It has a glabrous lamina with green veins on the upper surface, while the lower surface is spider-like with tufts of hair, with yellow-green veins, sometimes with shades of pink. Lateral teeth are convex or plane-convex, broad-based, not very noticeable, irregular and mucronate. The cluster is small-to-medium-sized, with a cylindrical shape tending to conical. It is generally winged, and the wing is highly developed to form almost a double cluster. The small-medium sized spherical berry is irregular, has an averagely pruinose, yellowish-grey skin, which turns amber-grey on the side facing the sun. The juice is colourless, but the pulp is juicy, with a very neutral flavour.
DOWNLOAD THE AMPELOGRAPHIC DATA SHEET OF THE NATIONAL REGISTRY OF WINE GRAPE VARIETIES, BY MIPAAF
