Vino Italiano

I have had 2 friends write to me from the US today asking which Italian wines they should drink. I can definitely tell them the wines that I like to drink, but helping them understand these wines is a greater challenge. Approaching Italian wine is not exactly simple. It can be intimidating, and often it seems that you need to be an expert in geography and fluent in Italian to have the remotest clue of how things work.

In Italy, there are hundreds of appellations (called DOCs or DOCGs) that indicate both the location and method of production. For example, the Aglianico del Vulture DOC defines that particular wine as one made exclusively from Aglianico grapes grown in a limited geographical area in northern Basilicata. There are lots of other rules and regulations that define a wine as Aglianico del Vulture, but location and method of production are among the most important factors.

In Italy, the grape variety or varities (many wines are blends of multiple grapes) may be totally absent from the label which can make choosing a bottle even more confusing and unfamiliar. Thankfully, Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch wrote a book that can help demystify Italian wines. Their text, Vino Italiano, is an invaluable resource for consumers who wish to delve into the confusing yet rewarding world of Italian wine. To purchase, click here.

While you are waiting for your shipment from Amazon to arrive, seek out these wines in your local liquor store. All are made from native Italian grapes:

Whites
Roero Arneis from Piedmont
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi from Le Marche
Vermentino from Sardegna
Fiano di Avellino from Campania
Collio Tocai Friuliano from Friuli
Colli Orientali di Friuli Tocai Friulano also from Friuli

Reds
Taurasi from Campania
Aglianico del Vulture from Basilicata
Barolo and Barbaresco from Piedmont
Amarone della Valpolicella from the Veneto
Rosso Conero from Le Marche
Primitivo di Manduria from Puglia

If you want to see how merlot and cabernet savignon taste when grown in the hot climate of Sicily, there are plenty of Sicilian wines made from these two grapes. Alto Adige, Valle d’Aosta and Friuli make things a bit easier–many of their laws mandate that the grape variety be named on the label.