The Romagna of wine focuses on the sub-areas, with the collective brand “Rocche di Romagna”

A collective brand to tell a territory through its sub-areas, inspired and closely linked to a uniqueness admired all over the world, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, is one of the most admired mosaics in the world. And it is a mosaic of Sangiovese that the Consortium Vini di Romagna, led by Ruenza Santandrea, wants to tell through the European collective brand “Rocche di Romagna”, which identifies in the bottle the Romagna Sangiovese produced in the 16 recognized sub-areas, Serra, Brisighella, Marzeno, Modigliana, Oriolo, Castrocaro, Predappio, Meldola, Bertinoro, Cesena, Mercato Saraceno, Longiano, Imola, Coriano, San Clemente, and Verucchio, through the symbol of the fortresses, which are one of the most identifying elements of the Romagna area.
“The objective of the Rocche di Romagna brand is to give an impulse to the knowledge of the multiple identities of Sangiovese in our area and to stimulate curiosity for the production of the Sub-area, which are by far the ones with the most strongly territorial imprint - says Ruenza Santandrea, president of Consortium Vini di Romagna - we want to encourage the consumer as well as the associates in search of more and more authentic expressions of Sangiovese, a formidable interpreter of the soils where it grows”. It is about enhancing a niche, the qualitative peak of production, given that, if 10.9 million bottles of Sangiovese di Romagna Doc were produced in 2021, the type with sub-zone stopped at 400,000 bottles. But the idea is that this territorial and qualitative selection (with a stricter disciplinary, with yields of up to 9 tons per hectare and a minimum of 95% Sangiovese), will arrive in a few years, to represent a few million bottles, enhancing at the same time all the Sangiovese di Romagna, and its widespread territory.
On the other hand, explains the Consortium Vini di Romagna, “the Rocche are highly symbolic elements of the territory: they are very widespread buildings in Romagna, with historical and iconic value, stories of different fragments of the mosaic of particularity that is Romagna. And precisely the mosaic - specifically the mosaic art of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, one of the most exceptional artistic testimonies of the first half of the fifth century - was chosen as an icon to represent the Rocche di Romagna brand: a union of tiles that create a figure, just as the Sangiovese sub-areas give this wine a unique image, albeit made of multiplicity”.
“The brand will give visibility to Sangiovese di Romagna on international markets - comments Kerin O’Keefe, author, wine critic, and founder of kerinokeefe.com - sending a clear message about the importance of recognizing the various expressions of the territory and putting light on the seriousness of the producers.” The Sub-areas project in fact was born with the authorization of the 2011 “Romagna” DOC production specification, which established the creation of 12 territories (the subzones, in fact) that can be claimed on the label of Sangiovese (also in the reserve version) produced in compliance with more restrictive and rigid rules that reach more demanding chemical-physical and qualitative parameters, according to the dictates of the respective sub-area annex. In the wake of the first, four further sub-areas - Imola, Coriano, San Clemente, and Verucchio - have obtained ministerial approval this year - which, like the others, see the declination of the brand with the specific name in the manual. A project to which, to date, several companies have joined, including those presented yesterday in Predappio: from Berti Stefano to Bissoni, from Cab Terra di Brisighella to Ca’ di Sopra, from Celli to Colombina, from Condè to Condello Chiara, from Drei Donà to Enoica, from Fattoria Nicolucci to Fattoria Zerbina, from Fiorentini Vini to Galassi Maria, from Giovanna Madonia to La Collina del Tesoro, from La Pandolfa to Mirabello, from Palazzona di Maggio to Podere Palazzo, from Poderi dal Nespoli to Poderi Morini , from Tenuta Casali to Tenuta De 'Stefenelli, from Tenuta Il Plino to Tenuta La Viola, from Tenuta Masselina to Tenuta Santa Lucia, from Tenuta Santini to Terra dei Gessi, to Villa Papiano.