Within three months from the date of this publication, the authorities of a Member State or of a third country, or a natural or legal person having a legitimate interest and established or resident in a third country, may lodge, in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), an opposition with the Commission.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

(Regulation (EU) 2019/787)

‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’

PGI-IT-02903

Date of application: 21 February 2023

1.   Name(s) to be registered

‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’

2.   Member State or Third Country

Italy

3.   Type of geographical indication

Geographical indication

4.   Category or categories of the spirit drink

33. Liqueur

5.   Description of the characteristics of the spirit drink

Physical, chemical and organoleptic characteristics as well as specific characteristics of the product compared to spirit drinks of the same category:

(a)	Main physical, chemical and/or organoleptic characteristics of the product - colour: ruby red of varying intensity - aroma: intense, characteristic of sour cherries, forest fruits and/or almonds - flavour: aromatic, pleasant and long-lasting, of sour cherry and/or almond.

(b)

Specific characteristics of the spirit drink as compared to the relevant category The name ‘Ratafia Ciociara’ / ‘Rattafia Ciociara’ is reserved exclusively for the spirit drink produced by the hydroalcoholic infusion of morello or amarena cherries (Prunus cerasus varieties) in pure alcohol and in Cesanese del Piglio DOCG or Atina DOC Cabernet wine, processed in facilities located in the province of Frosinone. The specific characteristics of ‘Ratafia Ciociara’ / ‘Rattafia Ciociara’ are: - Alcoholic strength by volume: From 17 to 35 % vol – Minimum sugar content: 70 grammes/litre - Flavoured exclusively with natural juices or infusions of morello or amarena cherries with the possible addition of spices (cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, bitter almond).

6.   Definition of the geographical area

The product ‘Ratafia Ciociara’ / ‘Rattafia Ciociara’ must be processed in the territory of the province of Frosinone.

7.   Method of production

After being washed, the morello or amarena cherries are infused in steel containers with Cesanese del Piglio PDO or Atina PDO Cabernet red wine in varying ratios of 0,5-1 kg:1 l.

Fermentation lasts for a minimum of 30 days if thermal containers capable of maintaining a temperature of 20 °C to 35 °C are used, and for at least 40 days for natural fermentation ‘in the sun’, or until the morello cherries settle at the bottom of the container.

The infusion is separated from the precipitate by filtration; the precipitate may be pressed. At this point, the semi-finished liquid is automatically microfiltered to obtain a clear product. Extra fine and/or caster and/or cane sugar can be added in varying ratios of 1 l:0,25-0,5 kg. Pure alcohol is then added to achieve the required strength.

Alternatively, once washed, the morello or amarena cherries may be infused with a water-alcohol mixture at a strength of 22 ° to 96 ° with a ratio of 500 grams of fruit per litre of water-alcohol mixture, in order to obtain through osmosis a typical dark red extract and the classic taste of morello and/or amarena cherry. This infusion is then mixed with Cesanese del Piglio PDO or Atina PDO Cabernet red wine (sugar syrup, alcohol) until the required strength is reached.

It may be flavoured exclusively with natural juices (containing between 12 and 15 % fruit) or infusions containing up to 25 % morello or amarena cherries and possibly also spices (cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, bitter almond) that should make up no more than 5 % of the product.

8.   Specific rules concerning packaging

‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ must be released for consumption in bottles with a nominal capacity of 0,20 l, 0,375 l, 0,50 l, 0,70 l, 0,75 l, 1,0 l or 1,5 l.

The nominal capacities indicated represent the volumes of the bottles in which ‘Ratafia Ciociara’ / ‘Rattafia Ciociara’ is traditionally packaged and marketed.

9.   Specific rules concerning labelling

‘Ratafia Ciociara’ / ‘Rattafia Ciociara’ must be labelled in accordance with current legislation. The aforementioned production process must be mentioned explicitly on the labelling.

10.   Description of the link between the spirit drink and its geographical origin, including, where appropriate, the specific elements of the product description or production method justifying the link

‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ is a liqueur made from morello cherries and red wine typical of Lazio’s rural farming tradition. It is particularly common in the sub-Apennine part of lower Lazio, and more precisely in Ciociaria, where climate and soil conditions are optimal for Prunus Cerasus L. to grow and develop.

The morphological structure of the geographical area is characterised by the two orthogonal valleys of the Sacco and Liri rivers (collectively forming the Latin Valley) and by a predominantly hilly and mountainous terrain, consisting of the western slopes of the Simbruini-Ernici mountain chain and the eastern slopes of the Lepini-Ausoni-Aurunci mountain chain. The soils have developed from a lithology specific to the Lazio-Abruzzo carbonate platform, which features limestone that is highly permeable due to fracturing and karst: at the highest altitudes, there is compact limestone (dolomitic and travertine limestone) and marly limestone; in the hills, sandstone. The flatter part, of alluvial origin, characterised by terra rossa (red soil), is surrounded by sloping alluvial terraces formed during the Quaternary Period, consisting of clay and gravel deposits, with outcrops of loose colluvial clay soils; further upstream, along the eastern side, there are older alluvial terraces with colluvial deposits, valleys and detrital deposits of piedmont alluvial fans, forming hill ranges close to the Apennine limestone mountains. In the south, alluvial terraces give way to low hill formations of ancient origin (Miocene) made up of clay/marl/sandstone flysch.

The area has a transitional temperate climate, with phytoclimatic regions that have homogeneous weather conditions: one in the high hills, where the climate is temperate (upper hilly thermotype and lower/upper hilly thermotype – upper humid); another on the more moderate slopes, where the climate is transitional temperate (lower hilly thermotype); and yet another in the flat area, where the climate is still of a transitional Mediterranean type, but with a lower meso-Mediterranean thermotype. The average annual precipitation is between 1 098 and 1 233 mm, with summer droughts and subaridity (rainfall 96-130 mm) varying from 1 to 2 months. The average temperature is between 12,5 °C and 14,6 °C: there is a prolonged cold period from November to April, with an average temperature of less than 10 °C for 3 to 4 months per year. The average minimum temperature in the coldest month of the year is between 1,9 °C and 3,3 °C.

Together, the nature of the land and climate factors make the demarcated area highly suited to growing Prunus Cerasus L. and producing ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’.

The predominantly hilly terrain of the production area and the west and south-west aspect create an airy and bright environment, which provides ideal growing conditions for the plant. The marly limestone soils, which are highly skeletal, rich in calcium carbonate and contain clay accumulations, and the alluvial or sedimentary soils of the flatter areas, which contain sandstone, marly limestone and yellowish marl and have a silty texture, prevent the build-up of stagnant water and promote the concentration of sugars in the fruit.

The temperature and rainfall patterns of the production area, with mild spring temperatures accompanied by moderate rainfall, guarantee optimal flowering and fruit set; infrequent rainfall during the final stage of ripening limits any problems of the fruit splitting, which would result in fermentation processes that are not ideal for producing ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’. These climate conditions also result in ripe, balanced fruit, with an optimal sugar/acid ratio, and a water content that makes the maceration/infusion process conducive to obtaining a product that preserves the aromas of Prunus Cerasus L. referred to in point 5.

Historical sources from the 17th century onwards describe the presence of morello cherry trees in the upper Liri valley, in Val di Comino on the Lepini mountains, which was once part of the Terra di Lavoro. However, the tree most likely adapted and spread across the Italian peninsula much earlier, particularly in central Italy. This dates back to the period in which the Prunus Cerasus L. species was imported from the east, around the 1st century BC.

The fruit of this plant, which grows naturally on the mountains of Ciociaria, has been a source of food for centuries for local farmers (Iannazzi, Beranger) who, as well as consuming the fresh fruit and producing jam, jelly and sorbet, would also macerate the fruit in red wine, in order to produce a drink that was ‘very tasty in the summer months’, which enriched the flavour of the red wine produced with local grape varieties (Statistica del Regno, 1811).

The combination of sour cherries and ‘Cesanese del Piglio PDO’ and ‘Atina PDO’ red wine is what distinguishes ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ from other sour cherry (Prunus Cerarus L.)-based spirit drinks produced mainly in the northern regions of the Italian peninsula or in parts of France or Switzerland, where the fruit infusion involves the use of spirits or other distillates.

It is only ‘Cesanese del Piglio PDO’ and ‘Atina PDO’ wines and the sour cherries that give ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ its ruby red colour of varying intensity and long-lasting bitter/aromatic flavour of the fresh fruit.

The human factors linked to the wine-growing area are of fundamental importance. Through established tradition, they have contributed to the production of ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’. ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ is a product characteristic of rural culture, and the method of preparing it was passed down orally in every family that had a morello cherry tree on their property. Nevertheless, we happened upon a journal from the end of the nineteenth century, containing a hand-written recipe by Maria Coletti Sipari which is now preserved in the Buriani private archives in San Donato Val di Comino (Frosinone), Sipari’s place of origin. From this source we discover the quantities and method for preparing ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’, described as it was commonly found in Ciociaria: ‘1 kg of amarena cherries, 1 l of good red wine, 250 ml of spirit, 250 g of sugar. Spices: cinnamon and nutmeg shavings. Place the infusion in the sun for 40 days, then press the amarena cherries in a small press to make the liqueur.’

At the beginning of the 20th century, the product was already counted among the typical products of Ciociara and was described as ‘a special liqueur with a very pleasant taste known as rattafia’ (Del Nero, 1907).

This liqueur was ‘special’ not only because of its singular ingredients but also because it was traditional to drink it at the end of important family negotiations and happy events such as engagements, traditions rooted in the sealing of pacts and diplomatic agreements by toasting with the liqueur and declaring: ‘Pax rata fiat’ [literally ‘the peace agreement has been reached’], from which the name supposedly derives.

In addition to its consumption as a drink, ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ liqueur made from morello cherries and red wine was used in popular medicine as a health tonic. There is evidence of it being used for this purpose during the First World War when, in the absence of medicine, the Ciociaran people used it against typhoid and the ‘Spanish’ flu (Zirizzotti).

Today, ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ is prepared using the best red wines from the Ciociaria area: Cesanese del Piglio wine (recognised as PDO by the Presidential Decree of 29 May 1973 and awarded the highest PDO classification, DOCG, by the Ministerial Decree of 1 August 2008) and Atina PDO Cabernet wine (approved by the Presidential Decree of 26 April 1999 and amended by the Ministerial Decree of 2 August 2011).

The product ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ has been included in the list of traditional agri-food products of the Lazio Region since 2010.

Many books featuring the description sheet of the product ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ have been published, including: ‘Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare tra Biodiversità e Tradizione’ - April 2019; ‘Le eccellenze agroalimentari del Lazio’ - April 2016; ‘Guida agli eventi aziendali in Ciociaria’ - Silva Hotel Splendid, Fiuggi; ‘Guida ai prodotti tipici e tradizionali del Lazio’ - 2011.

In the 2018 Year of Italian Food in the World, ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ was among the nine ‘liqueurs and spirits’ of the Lazio region selected by Coldiretti for the ‘Bandiere del gusto 2018’.

The current reputation of ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ has also been established abroad, especially in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Brighton, where it features on the drinks menus of several restaurants. The Australian site Young Gun of Wine included ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ among digestive liqueurs on the list of spirits and on the list of dessert liqueurs in summer 2021. The reputation of the name ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ is obvious in the (approximately) 4 500 results obtained on the Google search engine (October 2023).

There are also many labels used by factories in the province of Frosinone, which have been using the name ‘Ratafia Ciociara / Rattafia Ciociara’ for over 30 years.

Reference to publication of the product specification

https://www.politicheagricole.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/10161

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(1)  Regulation (EU) 2024/1143 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products, as well as traditional specialities guaranteed and optional quality terms for agricultural products, amending Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013, (EU) 2019/787 and (EU) 2019/1753 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 (OJ L, 2024/1143, 23.4.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1143/oj).