Italy

Italy is one of the oldest wine-growing countries, with origins dating back at least to 1,000 BC. At that time, the Etruscans appeared in central Italy and settled areas of the four present-day regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria. The origin of Italian wine culture lies primarily in Greek colonisation, which brought Greek viticultural culture to the peninsula beginning in the 10th century BC on the island of Sicily as well as Campania and Calabria. The Greeks brought many of their grape varieties with them and named the land ideal for viticulture Oinotria (land of vines grown on stakes). Likewise, at this time, the Phoenicians (Punic), who later became a great enemy and established bases in Sicily and the Mediterranean, exerted an influence. From the 6th century BC, a lively trade began with the Celts in Gaul (France), who imported considerable quantities of wine from Upper and Central Italy.

The Romans learned from all these peoples and brought winemaking to a high art. In the 3rd century BC the vine was widespread everywhere and in the 1st century BC wine culture reached a peak. The city of Pompeii was the wine trading centre and main supplier to Rome until its destruction by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 BC. The most famous ancient wines at this time were Caecuber, Falernese and Surrentine. The Romans planted vineyards in the newly won provinces in what are now France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and England. Wine became an import and export article and the Romans already made wooden barrels for it, having learned this from the Celts (Gauls).

Many Roman authors wrote about viticulture and wine culture, some of them very extensive, thus providing a very precise picture. The spectrum ranges from purely scientific (doctrinal) writings to poetic descriptions and descriptions of the eating and drinking culture. Of particular note is Satyricon, a portrait of the manners of the Roman upper class. The most important authors in chronological order are Cato the Elder (234-149 BC), Virgil (70-19 BC), Horace (65-8 BC), Ovid (43 BC to 8 AD), Columella (1st half of 1st century), Petronius (14-66), Pliny the Elder (23-79) and Palladius (4th century). Wine became a cultural medium of the first rank; in continuation of the Greek cult of Dionysus, the wine god Bacchus enjoyed great veneration. The Romans were very creative when it came to wine-making techniques. One speciality was flavouring to make the wine tastier and more durable.

Sparkling wine was already produced by storing the amphorae in cold spring water (interruption of fermentation). In the first century AD, people were intensively engaged in the breeding of grape varieties and tried to find the most suitable vine for the respective soil. Many of today's autochthonous vines are descended from the ancient grape varieties cultivated at that time. With the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and the turmoil of the migration of peoples, wine culture fell into oblivion and was only cultivated by monasteries of the Roman Catholic Church through the production of Mass wine.

There was a great upswing at the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century. In order to revive viticulture, Pope Paul III. (1468-1549) put French wine under ban and had surveys of Italian wine drawn up. As early as 1716, under Grand Duke Cosimo III. (1642-1723) from the Medici dynasty in Tuscany, the zone for Chianti was established, making Italy one of the first countries with a designation of origin. But it was not until the 19th century, when wine types such as Barolo, Brunello and Chianti were created with French help, that a new beginning was ushered in.

Wine-growing regions

The soil is characterised by great diversity, but the climate has common influences despite local differences. The Alps shield against cold north winds, and the Apennines form a 1,500-kilometre weather divide from Piedmont in the north to Sicily in the south. The Mediterranean Sea to the east and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west of the boot, as well as the numerous rivers and lakes, have a determining effect. The best regions have temperatures between 12 and 16 °C, sufficient snow and rainfall in winter and warm to hot summers with sunshine until late in autumn. The vineyards range in altitude from sea level to 1,000 metres. The 20 wine-growing regions coincide with the political regional boundaries:

Grape varieties and vineyards

At the beginning of the 1990s, the area under vines was still well over one million hectares, but this was reduced by around 200,000 hectares due to subsidised grubbing-up programmes by the European Union and subsequent further measures. In 2016, 44.3 million hectolitres of wine were produced from 681,350 hectares. This puts Italy in the top league worldwide (see under wine production volumes). Wine is grown from the north of the country (Trentino-Alto Adige) to the deepest south (Sicily) and on the islands in the Mediterranean. However, the DOC and DOCG zones account for only about one fifth of wine production. There are about two million grape producers, 340,000 cellars and 45,000 wine bottlers. With over 2,000 different grape varieties, Italy has the most in the world, quite a few of which are of ancient (Greek) origin. Of these, however, "only" 400 are officially authorised. The grape variety table in 2016 with the top 45 (statistics Kym Anderson):

Wine law

Until after the Second World War, the emphasis was more on mass. Then, from the 1960s onwards, a profound change took place. The first area where the "Italian wine miracle" made itself felt was Chianti-Classico in Tuscany, where a radical break with the past was made. The Antinori, Frescobaldi and Ricasoli wineries in this region and later Ca' del Bosco in Lombardy, among others, made a decisive contribution to this. In the last third of the 20th century, Italian wine underwent extremely positive changes. With a new wine law, the new quality designation "Denominazione di Origine Controllata" (DOC) was introduced in 1963, which contributed decisively to the improvement of quality. Vernaccia di San Gimignano was the first DOC wine to be designated in 1966. It was not until 1980 that the highest level "Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita" (DOCG) followed. There were further changes in 1992 with the "Goria Law" named after the Minister of Agriculture Giovanni Goria (1943-1994), which introduced the IGT level.

Wine categories: In August 2009, the EU wine market regulation became valid for all member countries with fundamental changes to wine designations and quality levels. There are the following new designations or quality levels (see also in detail under Quality System):

• Vino (formerly Vino da Tavola or table wine) = Wine
• IGP or the alternative old designation IGT = local wine
• DOP or the alternative old designations DOC and DOCG = quality wine

In April 2010, the new national wine law came into force, replacing Decree No. 164 of 1992. It was not content with merely adapting to the new EU law, but made a few substantial innovations. The old and new designations may be used alternatively or together. The reason for this choice is to avoid a "flattening" of DOCG to DOC, since both would be standardised if PDO were used exclusively and DOCG is still to be placed above DOC in terms of quality. In summary, there are now stricter and more clearly formulated regulations.

Vino: The old designation "VdT" (Vino da Tavola) is now prohibited, as is generally the case in all EU member states. There are wines without and with indication of the grape varieties and/or the vintage.

IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) or IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta)
Country wines must be subjected to an analytical test (a sensory test is only carried out for DOC/DOCG wines). The wine must have a typical, geographically determined characteristic. The requirements are lower than the DOC/DOCG or DOP level. The areas are usually much larger and sometimes encompass entire regions. From the 1980s onwards, the high quality of some IGT wines from Tuscany led to the term Super Tuscan. There are a total of 118 IGT/IGP wines with about 30% of the production. A range can cover an entire region such as Tuscany.

DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) or DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta)
These quality wines with a controlled designation of origin must be made from specified grape varieties and vinified according to set quantities and methods (see below). Some DOC zones produce only one wine, others several in different colours, grape varieties or types. The German-language equivalent for South Tyrolean wines is the designation QbA (Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete). The 332 DOC wines account for about 25%. They are listed with the regions.

DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) or DOP: These quality wines with controlled and guaranteed designation of origin represent the highest Italian "class of honour", which guarantees the authenticity of particularly highly valued wines. The 74 DOCG wines account for only about 5% of production. For a complete list, see below.

Grape varieties: For DOC/DOCG or DOP wines (quality wines), only grapes from the grape varieties permitted in the respective areas may be pressed. for IGT/IGP wines (country wines), varieties under observation are also permitted. They must be named in the production regulations, whereby this can also be done on a percentage basis with a tolerance of 1% (previously only the composition in the vineyards was prescribed). Table grapes may also be vinified; the previous ban has been lifted.

Further specifications: Besides grape varieties, these are bottle shape, minimum maturation times in barrels and bottle, minimum values for alcohol content, acidity and total extract (dry extract), as well as colour and aroma. A sensory and analytical test is carried out before marketing. It is also possible to indicate the subzone (sottozona), municipality (comune), district (frazione), microclimate zone (microzona), winery (fattoria, cascina or podere) and the vineyard plot (vigna) for wines of exceptional quality. This emphasises the importance of origin even more.

Additional quality designations: Three terms are used to indicate a specific quality in quality wines. The term Classico designates traditional areas of origin or core zones within a DOC/DOCG or DOP area that are qualitatively better or favoured due to the soil and climate. For example, there is a DOCG area Chianti and a DOCG area Chianti-Classico. With higher alcohol content, lower yield limits and/or longer maturation, the terms Superiore and/or Riserva are permitted.

DOCG wines

DOCG wines generally represent the absolute top of Italian wines. When wines have maintained their quality for at least five years, they are awarded DOC status, and DOCG status at the earliest after a further five years. Theoretically, a single, excellent branded wine can also achieve DOCG status if it "does Italy honour", but this has not yet happened. The very first wine classified as DOCG was Vino Nobile di Montepulciano from Tuscany in 1980, followed in the same year by Barbaresco, Barolo and Brunello di Montalcino. It took a relatively long time before the first white wine to be crowned was Albana di Romagna from Emilia-Romagna in 1987. The first sparkling wines were Asti Spumante and Moscato d'Asti from Piedmont in 1994. The list of 75 DOCG:

Institutions, bodies and personalities

Among the most influential Italian wine writers and critics are Burton Anderson, Daniele Cernilli, Giancarlo Gariglio, Fabio Giavedoni, Luigi Veronelli and Franco Ziliani. They work or publish in many wine magazines and wine guides such as Gambero Rosso, Slow Wine and Veronelli-Guide. The most important international wine fair is Vinitaly.

Map: By TUBS - Own work,
edited elements from Bergamo, CC BY-SA 3.0, link