With grape vines growing virtually everywhere, Italy boasts of producing more wine than any other country in the world. No Italian meal is complete without the clinking of wine glasses.



Yet perhaps surprisingly, Italy is a relative newcomer to the world wine market. Italian winemaking tradition goes back three millennia to the Etruscans - its formal system of classification goes back only three decades. For generations, Italians kept the best premium wines for their own consumption. Today there is still no equivalent to the French cru system of vineyard classification.The grapevines of Italy proliferate over a vast array of soils and climates. There's Alpine soil in the northern climes and the sunny shores of the Mediterranean to the south. As we go south of Rome, the wines tend to become more ordinary, but there are some notable exceptions. High-altitude cultivation protects the vines from grape-withering heat. The white wines of Mount Etna are the only wines in the world made on the slopes of an active volcano.In the first category is one of the best-known Italian wines for casual drinking, Lambrusco, an effervescent, slightly sweet red wine that rose to popularity in the United States in the 1970s and continues to please drinkers who want a pleasant, undemanding wine. In the second category are most of the Italian wines described in this chapter, and many other wines that space does not permit us to discuss. The third category includes wines that have been created to emulate the finest wines of Bordeaux and California as well as the best home grown wines of Italy[em] Barolo, Barbesco, Gattinara and Brunello. In particular the new kids on the block have been receiving acclaim worldwide and have brought a new respect for the Italian wine-producing community.There are three categories of Italian wines. The first category is simple table wine[md]non-DOC wines that for the most part do not come to the United States. Most Italian wines that you will see imported into the United States are DOC, which is a large category spanning quality from simple everyday wines to super-premium. There are currently more than 250 DOC-designated districts. You'll see the phrase Denominazione di Origine Controllata on the labels of these wines. As with French regulations, specific requirements for each DOC vary. An appellation of a Classico region, which has more stringent standards than the broader DOC, provides a two-tiered rank order[em]Chianti Classico for example.

Above the basic DOC classification is a designation given to only 13 wines: Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). These elite wines, mostly in the super-premium quality category, must pass all the requirements of the DOC, with additional specifications concerning winemaking practices and taste-testing of the wine itself. DOCG wines that fail to pass the taste test are declassified as ordinary table wine rather than DOC wine. Obviously, this motivates winemakers to produce a superior product. However, tasting requirements do not guarantee superior quality -too much is dependent on the qualifications of the taster, the tasting methods, and the taste standards.