Wine in Italy

Wine is a popular drink in Italy. Many Italians drink it with every meal and in-between, and offer it to guests as soon as they arrive. Grapes are grown in almost every part of Italy, with more than 1 million vineyards under cultivation.

Each region is proud of its carefully tended, neatly pruned vines. In some places the vines are trained along low supports. In others they climb as slender saplings. The people of each region are also proud of the wine they make from their own grapes.

Italian wine labels

Italian wines may be labelled in several different ways, instead of the region-first rule that dominates most of Europe. The wines may also be labelled by the grape variety. Barbera and Pinot Grigio are grape varieties, and you may see wine labelled as such. more...

Wine of the south Italy

Conditions depend on altitude and proximity to the Tyrrhenian, Ionian or Adriatic seas. Some good wines are made in hot places, the slopes of Vesuvius, the isle of Ischia, Apulia's Salento peninsula, Sicily's western coast and Sardinia's Campidano. But many wines of scope come from higher, cooler places, the hills around Avellino in Campania, Basilicata's Vulture, Sicily's Etna and central highlands, Apulia's interior plateau and Sardinia's eastern coastal range. more...

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"Roman wine-growing was prolific and well-organised, pioneering large-scale production and storage techniques like barrel-making and bottling. Two thousand years later, Italy remains one of the world's foremost producers, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005"

Italian Wines and food

As far as generalizations can be made, Italian wines tend to be acidic, dry and subdued in flavour and aroma. Because of these characteristics, Italian wines are, in general, a better accompaniment to food than they are beverages to be enjoyed on their own.

Top Wines list:

• Trebbiano - White Wine
• Pinot Grigio - White Wine
• Malvasia Bianca - White Wine
• Sangiovese - Red Wine
• Nebbiolo - Red Wine
• Montepulciano - Red Wine
• Barbera - Red Wine
• Nero d'Avola - Red Wine
• Aglianico - Red Wine

Other important whites include Carricante, Catarratto, Coda de Volpe, Cortese, Falaghina, Grillo, Inzolia, Picolit, Tocai Friulano, Traminer, Verdicchio, Verduzzo, Vermentino, Vernaccia, Ciliegolo, Gaplioppo, Lagrein, Lambrusco, Monica, Nerello Mascalese, Pignolo, Primitivo, Refosco, Schiava, Schiopettino, Teroldego, and Uva di Troia. .