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After World War II, the Italian government made vast organizational and regulatory improvements to Italy’s complex wine industry, which now functions effectively within a system of about 250 prescribed regional boundaries and sometimes antiquated winemaking restrictions.
Most of the better Italian wines are reds grown in regions north of Rome. We usually have an adequate local selection of wines from better-known Italian wine regions such as “Veneto,” “Friuli,” “Verona” and “Piemonte,” and especially the famous Chianti region of “Toscano” (Tuscany).
Tuscany is a sunny, hilly area north of Rome, with many of Italy’s oldest and most famous vineyards, especially in the Chianti regions between Siena and Firenza (Florence). The celebrated red wines of Chianti are made principally from distinctive San-giovese (“Blood of Jove”) grapes.
Well-known traditional Chianti producers include Antinori, Frescobaldi and Brolio — the 19th century developer of the classic Chianti formula now mandated by law. Anti-nori “Santa Christina” Chianti has long been a reliable, well-made, widely available Chianti value.
Several American wine corporations now have Chianti vineyards and production facilities in Italy. These include E&J Gallo’s top-value “Bella Serra,” good-value “Ecco Domani” wines and Beringer-Foster’s colorful and distinctive “Castello di Gabbiano” brand.
“Castello di Gabbiano” wines have vividly colored labels featuring a stylized, medieval knight in armor mounted on prancing chargers, color-coded to identify the traditional traditional “Chianti,” “Classico” and premium “Riserva” wine styles.
Light, fruity Bardolino and fuller, fruitier Valpolicella are long-popular mellow red wines from northeast Italy’s Veneto region that also produces Soave, an elegant white dinner and aperitif wine now somewhat upstaged by Chardonnay, and especially by the increasing popularity of crisp, good-value Pinot Grigio wines.
Bolla, a longtime leading producer of good white-wine values from northeastern Italy, now shares this distinction with Beringer-Blass’ “Campanile” and Gallo’s “Ecco Domani” brands.
“Pinot Grigio” is the Italian name for the Pinot Gris winegrape variety that has long produced a rich, fragrant white French aperitif and dinner wines. The increasingly popular Italian version of this variety must usually be picked before it fully ripens, so the increasingly popular and versatile Italian Pinot Grigio white wines tend to be lighter and less complex, but distinctly livelier (more acidic) than Central European versions raised in cooler climates.
Northeastern Italy is known for tasty and vivacious, good-value lighter sparkling wines made from late-ripening “Prosecco” grapes: I am especially fond of Rotari.
