Wine Regions : Italy
Italy is home to some of the oldest wine regions in the world. Etruscans and Greek settlers produced wine
in the country long before the Romans started developing their own vineyards in the second century BC.
Roman wine-growing was prolific and well-organized, pioneering
large-scale production and storage techniques like barrel-making
and bottling. Two thousand years later, Italy remains one of the world’s foremost producers, responsible
for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005.
Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MIRAF), has documented over 350 grapes and granted them
authorized status. There are more than 500 documented but unauthorized varietals in circulation.
Italy’s classification system is a modern one that reflects current realities. It has four classes of wine,
with two falling under the EU category Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR) and two falling
under the category of table wine.
Table wine classifications include Vino da Tavola, denoting a wine produced in Italy, and Indicazione
Geografica Tipica (IGT), indicating wine from a more specific region within Italy. This appellation was
created for the new wines of Italy, those that had broken the strict, old wine laws but were wines of great quality.
EU QWPSR classifications include Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) and Denominazione di Origine
Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). Both DOC and DOCG wines refer to zones which are more specific than an IGT,
and the permitted grapes are also more specifically defined. The main difference between a DOC and a DOCG is
that the latter must pass a blind taste test for quality in addition to conforming to the strict legal requirements
to be designated as a wine from the area in question.
Production Regions
- Abruzzo
- Aosta Valley (Valle D'Aosta)
- Apulia (Puglia)
- Basilicata
- Calabria
- Campania
- Emilia-Romagna
- Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- Lazio
- Liguria
- Lombardy (Lombardia)
- Marche (Le Marche)
- Molise
- Piedmont (Piemonte)
- Sardinia (Sardegna)
- Sicily (Sicilia)
- Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
- Tuscany (Toscana)
- Umbria
- Veneto
