Orta Nova is a wine-producing DOC of the Puglia region in south-eastern Italy. Its wines were awarded DOC status in 1984, the same year as Chianti Classico was introduced as a sub-denomination of Italy's most famous DOCG.
The DOC, and the wine to which it refers, are named after Orta Nova town, an ancient settlement 16 miles (25km) inland from the Adriatic coast of northern Puglia. Although the origins of the word orta are not entirely certain, the most likely meaning of 'garden' seems very apt today, as the town is surrounded on all sides by miles of neatly divided olive groves, vineyards and fields devoted to arable crops such as wheat, artichokes and other vegetables. The province of Foggia, in which Orta Nova sits, is one of the most prolific sources of olive oil and wine in Italy.
Orta Nova wines come in red and rose forms, in keeping with the majority of Puglia's vinous output. Sangiovese, Italy's most widely planted grape variety, is at the heart of these wines, a sure sign that this is northern Puglia rather than southern, where Negroamaro and Primitivo reign. It may legally be accompanied by an addition of up to 40% of two other red grapes. The first of these is Uva di Troia, the grape behind the reds from neighboring Castel del Monte (the Troia in question is not the Troy of Homeric legend but a Puglian town 20 miles west of Orta Nova). The second is Montepulciano of Abruzzo fame. These two are complemented by the increasingly rare Lambrusco Maestri and Trebbiano varieties, which are permitted in Orta Nova reds and rose wines up to a maximum of 10%, and only to allow for planting variations among older vine rows.
