What is made here
Wine colours
Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.
Where it is
Riviera ligure di Ponente in Italy
- Latitude
- 43.8°–44.5° N
- Vineyard altitude
- 35 m to 543 m
- Production zone
- 201,152 ha
Contains 2 appellations (outlined on the zone map)
Pornassio, Rossese di Dolceacqua
Worked out from the boundaries (smallest container first). They follow whole communes, so a neighbour sharing a commune can show up here too.
Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.
Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.
01 · What the law says
The rules
Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Riviera ligure di Ponente must meet.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Granaccia (Alicante)
- ≥ 90% Granaccia (Alicante) · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Granaccia (Alicante) Superiore
- ≥ 90% Granaccia (Alicante) · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Granaccia (Alicante) Passito
- ≥ 90% Granaccia (Alicante) · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato
- ≥ 95% Pigato · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato Superiore
- ≥ 95% Pigato · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato Passito
- ≥ 95% Pigato · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Rossese
- ≥ 90% Rossese · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Rossese Passito
- ≥ 90% Rossese · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino
- ≥ 95% Vermentino · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino Superiore
- ≥ 95% Vermentino · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Vermentino Passito
- ≥ 95% Vermentino · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
; release from 1 November of the year after the harvest.
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Riviera dei Fiori Pigato
- ≥ 95% Pigato · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Riviera dei Fiori Rossese
- ≥ 90% Rossese · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Riviera dei Fiori Vermentino
- ≥ 95% Vermentino · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Albenganese Pigato
- ≥ 95% Pigato · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Albenganese Rossese
- ≥ 90% Rossese · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Albenganese Vermentino
- ≥ 95% Vermentino · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Finalese Pigato
- ≥ 95% Pigato · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Finalese Rossese
- ≥ 90% Rossese · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Finalese Vermentino
- ≥ 95% Vermentino · Main grape
- ≤ 5% other non-aromatic white grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Blend rules
Riviera Ligure di Ponente Sottozona Quilano Granaccia
- ≥ 90% Granaccia (Alicante) · Main grape
- ≤ 10% other non-aromatic red grapes suitable for Liguria · Others allowed
Other varieties allowed
Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.
14 varieties · 4 wines
Albarossa, Barbera, Barsaglina, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo Nero, Ciliegiolo, Dolcetto, Merlot, Pollera Nera, Rossese, Sangiovese, Syrah, Vermentino Nero
15 varieties · 6 wines
Albana, Albarola, Bianchetta Genovese, Bosco, Greco, Lumassina, Malvasia Bianca Lunga, Muscat Blanc A Petits Grains, Rollo, Rossese Bianco, Ruzzese, Sauvignon Blanc, Scimiscia', Trebbiano Toscano, Vermentino
14 varieties · 5 wines
Albarossa, Alicante, Barbera, Barsaglina, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo Nero, Ciliegiolo, Dolcetto, Merlot, Pollera Nera, Sangiovese, Syrah, Vermentino Nero
15 varieties · 6 wines
Albana, Albarola, Bianchetta Genovese, Bosco, Greco, Lumassina, Malvasia Bianca Lunga, Muscat Blanc A Petits Grains, Pigato, Rollo, Rossese Bianco, Ruzzese, Sauvignon Blanc, Scimiscia', Trebbiano Toscano
15 varieties · 4 wines
Albana, Albarola, Bianchetta Genovese, Bosco, Greco, Lumassina, Malvasia Bianca Lunga, Pigato, Rollo, Rossese Bianco, Ruzzese, Sauvignon Blanc, Scimiscia', Trebbiano Toscano, Vermentino
In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine
4,500
Vines per hectare, minimum
Emergency only
Irrigation
Cellar
Where the wine must be made
Within the production zone
02 · Climate fingerprint
The climate
The growing season averages 18.2 °C, warm on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,754 growing degree days (Winkler III).
The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 265 m
Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season
- Growing-season temperature
- 18.2 °C
- Warm · 17–19 °C (Jones)
- Growing degree days
- 1,754
- Region III: 1,667–1,943 degree days
- Growing-season rain
- 595 mm
- Of 1,084 mm a year
- Harvest rain
- 230 mm
- September–October
Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 579 m; Vineyard point 2, 29 m; Vineyard point 3, 458 m; Vineyard point 4, 106 m; Vineyard point 5, 152 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.
Lower confidence:Monthly reanalysis in complex terrain (height corrections up to 2.6 °C); absolute values may be several degrees out, year-to-year changes are more reliable.
Closest climates in the database
Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.
1. Colli PiacentiniVery similarCompared with Riviera ligure di Ponente: same season warmth, similar rain.
2. GutturnioVery similarCompared with Riviera ligure di Ponente: same season warmth, similar rain.
3. Ortrugo dei Colli PiacentiniVery similarCompared with Riviera ligure di Ponente: same season warmth, similar rain.
Growing-season temperature
Growing degree days
Growing-season rain
03 · Year by year
35 vintages
Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.
Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 230 mm
2025
- Growing-season temp.
- Growing degree days
- Harvest rain
- Growing-season rain
- September nights
- Hot days and frosts
Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.
04 · Where the numbers come from
Sources
- A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
- Quality wines in Italy and France: a dataset of PDO specifications · figshare 25393261 · CC BY 4.0
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
- OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
- Disciplinare di produzione: Riviera ligure di Ponente (version published by MASAF up to May 2023, via the Internet Archive; later amendments not yet included) · Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (MASAF) · Official act
- Appellation nesting worked out from boundaries (pipeline/build_nesting.py) · Vinous, from the Eurac PDO boundaries · CC0 (source data)
- Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method
Still to check (3)
- Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
- From the specification: Subzone rules come from the annexes (Allegati 1-5); grape rules for subzone wines follow the main Art. 2 (Taggia Moscatello from Moscato bianco). Minimum vine density falls to 3,000 on steep terraces; Passito types' natural alcohol is after drying (min. 260 g/l sugar); training systems are those traditional to the zone; the Taggia Moscatello Passito taste description gives no sweetness word.
- National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.