The vineyard of Zitsa is approximately 25km northwest of the city of Ioannina. Extends mainly on the plateau of Zitsa, which has an average altitude of 650 meters and extends on the slopes of the surrounding hills and mountains at altitudes up to 800 meters. West goes down to the river Thyamis (or well) at altitudes up to 500 meters.
The area planted is now about 1400str, mainly in the area of ​​Zitsa (Zitsa, Karitsa Protopappas); in Ekali areas (Gavrisioi, Ligopsa); Evrimenon (Klimatia or Veltsista) where the eastern boundary is the low Gkremthas mountain quarries Marble.
On the plateau of Zitsa, who has the highest annual rainfall of all PDO wine zones in Greece, 1100mm to 1400mm depending on the region, the soils are shallow limestone rich in potassium. Almost all of the vineyards are linear and fenced for protection from wild boars and fauna in general.
Their orientation is mainly meridian. From the 17th century Zitsa is now known for its wines and many travelers wrote about praise. Among them Lord Byron wrote a long poem about Zitsa.
In the area of ​​Zitsa no tradition spatial winemaking wines with foaming due to the interruption of fermentation due to low temperatures (sometimes up to -10C); entrapment dioxide in sealed barrels spring restarts fermentation.
The tradition of Zitsa speaks mainly rosés with foaming, because the wine of Debina was with grapes from red varieties Vlach; Bekiari. Surprisingly ignored and institutionalized only white wine. So today, 3 15 winemakers produce wines PDO (OPAP) Zitsa 7 of which sparkling.
