Map by Mary Reilly
From Italy for the Gourmet Traveler
by Fred Plotkin
Italian Wines
If, as Pasteur once declared, there is more philosophy in one bottle of wine than in all the books ever written, then Italy has to be the cradle of Philosophy. From the Alpine slopes of the Aosta Valley to the Mediterranean vineyards of Calabria, Italy produces more wine and more varieties of wine than any other country.
I do not think anyone knows all of the wines of Italy. There are so many varieties, selecting the right Italian wine for the right occasion can be something of a problem, even for the knowledgeable consumer. In Italy there are very few laws governing the names of the wines you will find. Wines can be named after family members (e.g. Pin; Gaia and Rey); grape varieties (Grillo; Lugana; Barbera) ; villages (Barolo; Barbaresco); or in many Italian dialects with various English translations (Fontalloro; Bricco dell Uccellone) This is probably why Hugh Johnson once said, “Next after a corkscrew, what you need to enjoy Italian wine to the full is a sense of humor.” This great diversity in the wines, the Italian people and the marvelous country makes the wine so enjoyable, pleasurable, and worth knowing and experiencing. We will help you become acquainted with the wonderful world of Italian wine.
Renaissance is a word often used to describe the past thirty years in Italian winemaking history. The Renaissance began in Florence in the 14th century and winemaking has been part of the Italian culture for over three-thousand years. However, there has never been a “Golden Age” of Italian wine as there was with art, music, and philosophy. I am inclined to agree with David Gleave MW, a wine merchant in England who states that we are seeing a remarkable transformation in the character of Italian wines rather than a true Renaissance. This transformation is sometimes the result of old property being reinvigorated and in other places it is due to the creation of new vineyards being planted on land previously used in some other way.
David Gleave says, “This combination of old and new makes Italy the most exciting of the world’s wine-producing countries.” Italy is now poised on the threshold of its “Golden Age” of wine. We hope to continue to bring to you the very best of the wines in both old (reinvigorated) and new wines with a renewed emphasis on price and quality.
