Vermentino driving force behind DOC Maremma Toscana growth

By Lisa Riley

Published: 29 April, 2021

The Consorzio Tutela Vini della Maremma Toscana is forging ahead with its project to promote Vermentino which, in 2020 for the first time, was the appellation’s most-bottled grape variety.

The Consorzio said that with wine on the rise on the domestic and international fronts, Vermentino was a driving force behind the growth of DOC Maremma Toscana.

"I am more certain than ever that our Vermentino Maremma Toscana DOC has what it takes not only to position itself among the great white wines of the world, but also to compete against the great Tuscan reds, becoming one of the major cornerstones of our appellation,” said Consorzio president, Francesco Mazzei, who has had his sights on the variety for years.

“This is an especially versatile vine, suited to the production of both young and aged wines. Combined with a still pristine and quite varied zone that extends from the coastal area to the Colline Metallifere and to Mount Amiata, and with the ability of the individual wine growers and producers to enhance, in cellar, the grapes from the various zones, this ensures consistent qualitative improvement in wines with outstanding consumer appeal,” he said.

With 832ha in production in 2021 (in 2006 there were 138, a leap from 2.2% to 9.5%), Vermentino is the first white grape variety cultivated in the province of Grosseto and accounts for more than 50% of the Vermentino produced in all of Tuscany.

In 2020, this variety represented one-third of the entire DOC Maremma Toscana harvest, with 1,722,400 bottles produced, making Vermentino Maremma Toscana DOC the most bottled variety (30% of the total) of the DOC Maremma Toscana.

Founded in 2014 after the creation of the Vermentino DOC, the Consorzio includes 284 wine companies, 97 of which grow and vinify their own grapes and bottle their wines for a total amount of six million bottles produced per year.

Among the Tuscan PDOs, the DOC Maremma Toscana is the third widest area planted with vines (after Chianti and Chianti Classico areas) featuring many small and medium-sized local winegrowers alongside some of the most famous names of the Italian wine.