ITALY
Italy plays an important role in the history of viticulture. Starting point for wine growing on the Italian peninsula can be found in the Greek colonies in southern Italy today. Today, Italy is one of the most important wine producers in the world. Despite dramatic changes due to the vine disease phylloxera and mildew are still about 1,000 registered varieties. 400 varieties are allowed in the rules of the DOC.
The most important grapes in Italy are Barbera, Malvasia, Montepulciano, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Trebbiano. In addition, almost all known international varietals such as Chardonnay, Merlot etc.are grown.
The wines are divided into the following quality levels:
- Vino da Tavola (table wine)
- IGT (Geographical Indication Tipica), comparable to the French Vin de Pays
- DOCG is the highest level of quality. There are over 200 wines with appellation of origin such as Chianti or Soave.
Superiore is usually available for a wine that has a higher alcohol content than the standard DOC wines. In addition, there are the names as vino nobile di ...... (E.g. Montepulciano> Location, not grape)
Vineyard area: 840 000 ha
Wine production / year: 60 million hectoliters
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