Wines of Italy

Italy—a country three-quarters the size of California—makes one-fifth of all the wine in the world. It does that by cultivating one million vineyards in every one of its 20 regions, areas such as Tuscany or Piedmont. (Italy is not so much a country as one vast vineyard.)

No other country—not by a stretch—produces the variety of wines that Italy does (nor does any other country grow as many different types of grapes). And, with the notable brotherhood of France, does any other country make wines that so well accompany food.

Grapes
All the major European grapes grow in Italy—Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and so on. But so do more than 1,000 other varieties, around 400 of which are approved for winemaking.

But all you really need to remember among the native ones are those that make Italy’s better wines: The whites are Vernaccia, Verdicchio and Tocai Friulano. And the reds are Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Aglianico, Nero d’Avola and Corvina.

Photo by Dan Meyers at unsplash.com

Regions
As with the profusion of grape names, the number of Italian winemaking regions can seem daunting. But, again, it’s necessary at the beginning to acquaint yourself with only a few. The major red and white wine-producing areas are Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto, Campania, The Marches, and the “Tre Venezie”: Veneto, Trentino and Friuli, all grouped together in Italy’s northeastern corner.

Controls
Italy’s Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) governs the production and labeling of wine. Its intention is to give purchasers of a DOC wine a reasonable expectation that a wine labeled as, say, a Chianti will be in the style of a Chianti. It will look, smell, taste, feel and age like a Chianti.

The DOC regulations delineate each winemaking zone, the grape varieties that are permitted there, minimal alcohol levels (to assure sufficiently ripe grapes), maximum yields per acre, and other factors that affect quality.

At present, 329 zones carry a DOC designation and 74, a higher designation, DOCG (e Garantita).

In Italy, other designations also control production and labeling, categories such as Indicatizione Geografica Tipica (IGT) that requires a wine to state its area of origin and grape type; and Vino da Tavola (VDT), which carries neither a grape name nor a vintage date.

Stylistic guarantees under ITG and VDT are more open because they allow winemakers more flexibility. As such, some of Italy’s most costly wines are VDT, made by winemakers who choose to work with greater freedom outside the DOC/DOCG framework.

History
In Italy in 1965, a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine each cost the same amount of money—about 60¢. Today, bread costs only slightly more, but the price of a bottle of Italian wine will range from 5-50—or more. What happened?

Forty years ago, a large monopoly controlled Italian wine production. It paid grape growers little for their crop and, consequently, farmers produced as much as possible in their vineyards (up to 10 tons per acre or three times what we today consider a barely acceptable yield for fine wine grapes).

Then around 1965, people such as the Antinori family and the Biondi-Santis began a risorgimento in Italian wine: holding down yields to concentrate flavor, for example, and instituting winemaking practices such as cold fermentation. The aim was to make wines that would be acceptable – indeed, recognized as superior – on the world market. Italy wanted to show everyone that, like the French, the Germans and even the reborn American winemaking industry, it, too, had come of age.

During the past 60 years, the changes begun in the 1960s swept through the country.

The north leads Italy in the production of high-quality wine, with the trio of Veneto, Trentino and Friuli as top makers of varietal white wines. Tuscany, where the rebirth of the 1960s began, has made dramatic improvements in the making of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and international-styled Chardonnay.

An entire family of wines was spawned there—the Super-Tuscans—that incorporated “international” grapes, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, into red wines. The making of Super-Tuscans had an inspirational ripple effect throughout all of Italian winemaking.

The wine revolution, though, has had the most dramatic impact on the southern section of Italy. Long a producer of bulk or blending wines—much of it exported to Germany and France—the south has planted new vineyards and spiffed up its wineries and now sends forth enormous amounts of quality wine at very reasonable prices. Wine, especially red wine, from Campania, Sicily and Puglia continues to impress.

The present challenge for Italian winemaking, after having proved itself with wines such as Chardonnay and Merlot, is how to reintroduce the country’s many native grapes back into the bottle. Those grapes have always held the promise for Italian wine.