ontrary to most of the wines of Calabria, which are made from grapes grown in vineyards on terrains sloping toward the sea, exposed either to the east and the Ionian or toward the west and the Tyrrhenian, the Savuto vines are a "continental" culture, for they grow in well-ordered rows on the slopes that descend from the mountains to the banks of the Savuto river.Praised by Pliny the Elder and Strabo, Savuto was known to Latin speakers as Sanutum. It was as popular with the Roman nobles as Cirņ and Greco and was to be found at the most important feasts in the imperial capital.
If the image and appreciation of the wine has never declined over the intervening centuries, its production has experienced considerable fluctuations, with highs and lows being determined by the vicissitudes of wars and political disputes as well as parasitic attacks that have decimated or even destroyed the vineyards.
In the 15th century, production of Savuto, and of the other Calabrian wines as well, began to stabilize and expand in a systematic and regular fashion because of the evolution of maritime transport and the consequent commencement of regular commercial links with distant markets. The process also assured producers adequate earnings.
In recent years, the market and connoisseurs have been taking renewed interest in Savuto. That has been due in part to the wine's elevation to DOC status but also to a new appreciation of Savuto's antique flavor-the vines are still trained in the alberello pattern, the system that was used by the ancient Buzi in the 3rd century BC. It is as well an extremely drinkable wine, which is unusual for a red produced in southern Italy.
