Italian wine is one of the most famous wines, owing to Italy’s fame as the world’s oldest wine producing regions and the exceptional quality of wine produced here. Italy has more than 1 million vineyards under cultivation and is the world’s largest wine producer. Drinking wine is customary and most people have a glass of wine after their meals or in-between meals.
Italian wine is classified into two types – The EU Category and the Table Wine category.
Italian table wine can be in the form of ‘Vino da Tavolsor’ or ‘Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT)’. Vino da Tavolsor label indicates that the wine is from Italy, but it is not of very high quality. The Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) label indicates that the wine is from a specific region in Italy and though it is not made according to the traditional wine making process, the wine is of a superior quality.
The wine belonging to the EU category can be either ‘Denominazione di Origine’ Controllata (DOC) or ‘Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita’ (DOCG). While both classes of wine under the EU category wine are from specific regions of Italy and use only certain types of grapes in the wine making process, the DOCG class has to go through a blind taste test.
Italy has about 20 wine making regions and some of them are Lombardy, Sicily, Sardinia, Piedmont (Piemonte), Liguria and Tuscany. Each region’s wine is specific to the grapes grown in that region and its cuisine. Italian wines include the Red Wines variety and the White Wine variety. Some important Italian Red Wine varieties are Sangiovese, Barbera, Dolcetto, Sagrantino and Malvasia Nera. Well-known Italian White Wine varieties are Trebbiano, Pinot Grigio, and Moscato Malvasia Bianca Garganega.
When serving Italian wine, food served during the occasion must blend with the wine served and it is always best to go with food specific to the region from where the wine come from to highlight the taste and quality of the Italian wine.
Ricardo De Sousa is a Southern European Winery Expert writing about wine.
