Esino DOC, denomination for red and white wines from Le Marche, a region on Italy’s Adriatic coast. The denomination takes its name from the Esino river.

Production zone

The production zone comprises 60 townships (‘communi’), including the entire province of Ancona, and the townships of Matelica, Esanatoglia, Gagliole, Castelraimondo, Camerino and Pioraco in Macerata province. The territory, between the Adriatic sea and the Sibillini mountains, is furrowed to the north by the Cesano, Nevola and Misa rivers, to the south by the Aspio river and internally by the Esino river, courses that shape the low hills and valleys of the area. It is a large basin influenced by the Apennine highlands in its western part and that of the Adriatic Sea in the eastern area.

The orography is essentially hilly and the geological nature of the land is fairly homogeneous: there are pelitic / calcareous rocks or pelitic / clay rocks, which denote high levels of instability. The lithology of the valleys is characterized by alluvial deposits, sometimes gravelly, which reflect the limestone basins.

The altimetry of the area is quite limited and the slopes are not very high: over 70% of the territory of the denomination of origin is located at lower altitudes than 1,150 feet (350 m s.l.m) and the maximum do not exceed 4,600 feet (1400 m). In the area prevail the environments of fluvial terrace of II and III order and the valley floors represent only a small share of the total.

The low-lying areas, not only on the valley floor, make up 10% of the total area of ​​the Esino DOC area, which for 70% has slopes between 2% and 25%. There are no dominant exposures, with aspects all four cardinal points.

The average temperature in January is between 4 and 6° C. In July it is around 21-24° C. The thermal availability of the territory, evaluated through the bioclimatic index of Amerine and Winkler, is generally located above 1600 degrees day. During September and October the minimum air temperatures generally remain above 10° C. The average annual temperature is 13-15° C, while the average annual rainfall is between 700 and 900 mm. The climate of the area is temperate (Koppen Class C) with hot summers.

The Esino DOC production area has homogeneous traits from a soil-climatic point of view and an agricultural landscape marked by the presence of woods, herbaceous crops and vines, typical elements of the agriculture of Le Marche.

Wines

Esino Bianco & Bianco Frizzante: The Bianco (also known as sparkling) is produced from 50-100% Verdicchio and 0-50% other permitted white varieties.

Esino Rosso & Novello: The Rosso (also called Novello) is produced from Sangiovese and/or Montepulciano (60-100%), and 0-40% any other permitted red varieties.

Wine production: 2018 1,390hl. 36,400 bottles. 39 producers overall, 33 grape growers, 15 wine producers, 8 bottlers. | 2017 702hl. 40,000 bottles. | 2016 753hl. 58,000 bottles. | 2010 8,775hl. | 2009 10,399hl.  | 2008 10,062hl. | 2007 9,774hl. | 2006 14,497hl.

Bibliography

Production data | 2006-2010 Federdoc as reported by I Numeri del Vino. 2016-2018 Valoritalia.