Valdarno di Sopra DOC

The Valdarno di Sopra DOC includes the following types of wine: white, bianco spumante (sparkling white), rosé, rosé spumante (sparkling rosé) and red. The reference grape varieties are Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. In addition we should mention passito wine, made from white grapes. The production area includes the towns of Bucine, Castelfranco Pian di Scò, Castiglion Fibocchi, Cavriglia, Civitella in Val di Chiana, Laterina Pergine, Loro Ciuffenna, Montevarchi, San Giovanni Valdarno and Terranuova Bracciolini.
Red wines go well with roasted or grilled meat dishes, game and aged cheeses, while white wines can be paired with roasted or grilled fish, as well as fish starters and first courses. Rosé wines pair with starters and white meats, while sparkling wines are excellent as aperitifs. Finally, passito is excellent with biscuits, pastries and blue cheeses. There is documentation that vine cultivation has historically been in the area since the 4th century B.C. thanks to the Etruscans. In the 1st century A.D. Pliny the Elder, in his “Naturalis Historia”, says that Valdarno was one of the best lands for wine production at the time, and it remained so even during the Middle Ages. In the Florentine Land Registry of 1427, there are evaluations of merit on the quality of the product obtained in the different areas of Valdarno and on wine prices, but it was between the 16th and 18th centuries that a more scientific and entrepreneurial viticulture was achieved, with an increase in cultivation. In 1716, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de’ Medici tried to regulate production, focusing on the four wine-growing areas of the state where quality wines were produced: Chianti, Pomino, Carmignano and Valdarno di Sopra. The first three territorial indications would then be included among the designations established since the 1960s, while Valdarno di Sopra lost track of them. Thanks to a group of local producers who were aware of this land’s potential, in the Valdarno Aretino high quality wines began to be produced in the decades that followed. Sangiovese and other native grape varieties were grown, such as Pugnitello, Trebbiano, Malvasia Nera or bianca (white), but also with allochthonous varieties such as Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and, among the white varieties, Chardonnay. In 2011, Valdarno di Sopra DOC was finally created as a denomination, reaffirming an already acclaimed wine quality. It was then enhanced by the Consortium of the same name.