Wine route
Strada del Vino Costa degli Etruschi
1-2 days · 4 stops
Open the driveTuscany · DOC
Val di Cornia DOC The Iron Valley's Sangiovese, from Rosso DOCG to Baratti Whites
Val di Cornia is the iron valley behind the Etruscan Coast. It runs inland from Piombino through Suvereto and Campiglia Marittima. This was mining country long before it was vineyard country. The Sangiovese-led reds won their own DOCG in 2011. The DOC still covers the valley's whites and rosato.
Decode the label
What the label tells you
One word on the front changes the ageing, the strength and the price.
On the label
Rosso DOCG
Sangiovese in charge
12.5% minimum alcohol
1 May of year two, earliest sale
The valley's summit tier since the 2011 harvest.
No bottles in stock right now
On the label
Rosso Riserva
Wood, bottle and patience
18 + 6 months wood, then bottle
13% minimum alcohol
Held until the third New Year after harvest.
No bottles in stock right now
On the label
DOC bianco and rosato
The valley's fresh side
Vermentino leads the whites
Drink within two summers, ideally at Baratti.
No bottles in stock right now
The boundary
Where it is
Everything on this page, the estates, the bottles, the sub-zones, sits inside this line.
Val di Cornia DOC zone
Wine route in the zoneOutside the zone
The zone follows the Cornia river from the Colline Metallifere down to the sea at Piombino: Suvereto and Sassetta entire, plus the vine-bearing parts of Campiglia Marittima, San Vincenzo and Piombino. Iron-streaked soils, hot summers tempered by the Tyrrhenian, and the Etruscan mining park at the valley mouth explain both the wine's colour and its name recognition.
Inside the zone
5
communes, Livorno province
2011
the Rosso's first DOCG harvest
40%
minimum Sangiovese in the DOCG
12.5%
minimum alcohol (13% Riserva)
Towns worth knowing
Suvereto
Campiglia Marittima
San Vincenzo
Sassetta
Piombino
Suvereto's walls and Campiglia's terraces hold most of the cellars; San Vincenzo is the shore.
In the glass
What it tastes like, by style
One profile at a time, never blended into a single set of bars.
Black cherry
Plum
Tobacco
Lemon
Green Apple
The disciplinare
The rules that define it
The same table on every denomination page, straight from the production rules.
Grape & its role
Share of the blend
050100%
Solid means the rules demand it. Striped means optional, up to that amount. The words on the right say the same rule.
Sangiovese stays in charge at least 40 percent of the DOCG rosso, the valley's answer to Suvereto's Bordeaux lead.
Two dates to remember rosso sells from the 1st of May of year two; the Riserva from the New Year after, with 18 months' wood behind it.
Twin promotions Val di Cornia Rosso and Suvereto rose to DOCG together in 2011, both carved from the 1989 DOC.
No Aleatico in the blend the sweet grape is fenced out of the rosso by name.
Ageing and alcohol minimums per tier are in the label guide above.
Vintage provenance
Why there is no vintage chart
No denomination-wide vintage chart is published for Val di Cornia; quality is tracked producer by producer.
What to check instead
The producer: quality here is tracked estate by estate rather than year by year.
How Val di Cornia is made
The Rosso was raised to DOCG from the 2011 harvest. Sangiovese must make up at least 40 percent of the blend. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot can fill up to 60 percent between them. Other red grapes are capped at 20 percent, and Aleatico is shut out. The wine must reach 12.5 percent alcohol, or 13 percent for the Riserva. It cannot be sold before the 1st of May of the second year. The Riserva waits longer, until the New Year after that. By then it has spent at least 18 months in wood and six in bottle. The wider Val di Cornia DOC covers the bianco, mostly Vermentino and Trebbiano. It also covers the rosato, made from the same red grapes.
In depth
The Cornia river drains the Colline Metallifere, the metal-bearing hills. Their ore fed Etruscan furnaces at Populonia for a thousand years. The wine carries the postcode. Expect dark reds with an iron edge. They are a shade sturdier than their cousins over the ridge in Bolgheri. The valley farmed quietly until the coast boomed. Then Suvereto's Cabernet and Merlot proved themselves in the 1990s, and the whole valley followed. In 2011 the Rosso was raised to DOCG in tandem with Suvereto's own promotion. They are twin summits carved from the 1989 DOC. The split matters to buyers. Val di Cornia Rosso DOCG keeps Sangiovese in charge, at least 40 percent. Suvereto lets Bordeaux grapes lead instead. So the valley offers both answers to the coastal question. Estates cluster around Suvereto's walls and the terraces of Campiglia Marittima. The San Vincenzo shore and Piombino's headland close the zone at the sea. It remains a value corner. The names are small, and the tourism runs to Baratti's beach rather than cellar coaches. The wines undercut Bolgheri for the same gravel and sunshine.
On the table
What to eat with Val di Cornia
The home country leads; global pairings that genuinely work follow.
In-depth guide
Val di Cornia, answered
They are twin DOCGs, promoted together in 2011 from the same 1989 DOC. Val di Cornia Rosso keeps Sangiovese in charge, at 40 percent minimum. Suvereto lets Cabernet and Merlot lead. The wider Val di Cornia DOC still covers the whites and rosato.
Dark cherry and plum over an iron edge, which comes from the Colline Metallifere soils. It is firmer than Bolgheri's polish. The minimum alcohol is 12.5 percent, and the Riserva adds 18 months of wood.
Suvereto and Sassetta sit inside the zone entirely. Parts of Campiglia Marittima, San Vincenzo and Piombino are in as well. All of them are in Livorno province, behind the Etruscan Coast.
Explore more Tuscany
Same region only: the denominations Val di Cornia drinkers reach for next.
Multiple varieties permitted
