Zitsas Wineries
The vineyard of Zitsa is about 25 kilometres northwest from the city of Ioannina. It mainly extends on the plateau of Zitsa. The plateua of Zitsa has an average altitude of 650 meters and extends to the slopes of the surrounding hills and mountains, at elevations up to 800 meters. At its west side the plateau reaches for river Thyamis (also known as Kalamas), with altitudes up to 500 meters.
The cultivated area nowadays expends at about 1400str, mainly in the area of Zitsa (Zitsa, Karitsa, Protopappas). Also in the areas “”Ekali”” (village of “”Gavrisioi”” and “”Ligopsa””) and “”Evrimenon”” (villages of “”Klimatia”” or “”Veltsista””). The eastern boundary of the cultivated area is at the mountain Gkremthas.
The plateau of Zitsa actually holds the record of the highest annual rainfall, of all PDO wine zones in Greece. The annual rainfall expands from 1100mm to 1400mm, depending on the region. The soil is shallow limestone rich in potassium. Nearly all the vines are linear and fenced, in order to protect them from wild boars and fauna in general.
The orientation of the vineyard is mainly meridian. Zitsa’s wines have been quite famous since the 17th century and many travelers have wroted about it. Amongst them is Lord Byron who wrote a long poem about Zitsa.
Around the area of Zitsa there has been a long tradition of winemaking. The characteristic of ZItsa’s wines is the foaming, that actually is the result of the natural interruption of the fermentation, due to low temperatures (sometimes up to -10C) and the caging of the dioxide in the sealed barrels. It is only before spring that the fermentation starts again.
The wine tradition of Zitsa speaks mainly of rosé wines with foaming. This is because the wine was made from a mix of “”Debina”” with grapes from the red varieties “”Vlach”” and “”Bekiari””. Nowadays there are three winemakers produce 15 PDO wines (OPAP) Zitsa 7 of which sparkling.
