Wine regions of Italy

Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing
regions in the world. Italy is the world's second largest wine producer behind France.[1] Italian wine is
exported largely around the world and has market share of over 10% in most Asian countries like India.
Wine is extremely popular in Italy. Italians lead the world in wine consumption by volume with 70 liters
per capita consumption, compared to 25 liters in the US.

Italian appellation system

Italy's classification system 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'. The four
classes are:

Table Wine:

Vino da Tavola (VDT) - Denotes simply that the wine is made in Italy. The label usually indicates a basic
wine, made for local consumption.

Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) - Denotes wine from a more specific region within Italy. This
appellation was created in 1992 for wines that were considered to be of higher quality than simple table
wines, but which did not conform to the strict wine laws for their region. Before the IGT was created,
"Super Tuscan" wines such as Tignanello were labeled Vino da Tavola.

QWPSR:

Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)

Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG)

Italy's 20 wine regions correspond to the 20 administrative regions. The 36 DOCG wines are located in
13 different regions but most of them are concentrated in Piedmont and Tuscany

Valle d'Aosta DOC

The Valle d'Aosta DOC (or Vallée d'Aoste) is an Italian denominazione di origine controllata located in
the Aosta Valley of northwest Italy. Surrounded by the Alps, the Valle d'Aosta is home to the highest
elevated vineyards in all of Europe. The principal winemaking region of the Valle d'Aosta is found along
the eastern banks of the Dora Baltea river with the city of Aosta serving as the central winemaking
location. The region is divided into three main vineyard areas; the upper valley, Valdigne, the central
valley, Valle Centrale and the lower valley, Bassa Valley. Seventy five percent of the area's production is
red wine made mostly from the Pinot noir, Gamay and Petit Rouge varieties. The majority of white wine
production is made from the indigenous Blanc de Morgex grape
Piedmont
Piemonte wine is the range of Italian wines made in the province of Piedmont in the northwestern
corner of Italy. The best-known wines from the region include Barolo and Barbaresco. They are made
from the Nebbiolo grape. These wines are ideal for storage and a well-aged Barolo for instance may
leave a feeling of drinking velvet because the tannins are polished and integrated more and more into
the wine. As the wine matures the colour becomes more brownish and rust-red.

Other popular grapes used for red wine production are Barbera and Dolcetto. The sparkling wine Asti is
made from the Moscato grape. The majority of the area's winemaking take places in the provinces of
Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria. The Brachetto is another variety used for making sweet and sparkling red
wines.

While Turin is the capital of the Piedmont, Alba and Asti are at the heart of the region's wine industry

The 12 DOCG wines in Piedmont are:

Asti

Barbaresco

Barbera d'Asti

Barbera del Monferrato Superiore

Barolo

Acqui

Dogliani

Ovada

Gattinara

Gavi

Ghemme

Roero

Lombardy region
Lombardia (Lombardy) wine is the Italian wine produced in the Lombardy region of north central Italy.
The region is known particularly for its sparkling wines made in the Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese
areas. Lombardy also produces still red, white and rosé wines made from a variety of local and
international grapes including Nebbiolo wines in the Valtellina region, Trebbiano di Lugana white wines
produced with the Chiaretto style rosé along the shores of Lake Garda. The wine region currently has 15
Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC), 3 Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG)
and 13 Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) designations. The main cities of the region are Milan,
Bergamo and Brescia.

Veneto
Veneto is a wine region in north-eastern Italy, one of a group of three highly productive Italian regions
known collectively as the Venezie (after the ancient Venetian Republic) and the biggest DOC producer of
the three. Although the Venezie collectively produce more red wine than white, the Veneto region
produces more whites under DOC and is home to the famous Soave wines.

The region is protected from the harsh northern European climate by the Alps, the foothills of which
form the Veneto's northern extremes. These cooler climes are well-suited to white varieties like
Garganega (the main grape for Soave wines)[1] while the warmer Adriatic coastal plains and river valleys
are where the renowned Valpolicella, Amarone and Bardolino DOC reds are produced.

Tuscany
Toscana wine is Italian wine from the Tuscany region. Located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian coast,
Tuscany is home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are primarily made with Sangiovese grape whereas the Vernaccia grape is
the basis of the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Tuscany is also known for the dessert wine Vin Santo,
made from a variety of the region's grapes. Tuscany has twenty-nine Denominazioni di origine
controllata (DOC) and seven Denominazioni di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG).

Campania
The stunning coastal region of Campania is situated in southern Italy in the ‘shin of the boot’, and
anchored by its capital of Naples. Its name comes from Campania felix, Campania champions many
interesting native varieties, of which there are more than 100. They are the essential ingredients in the
region's three DOCG and 17 DOC wines (Aglianico del Taburno, Aversa, Campi di Flegrei, Capri, Castel
San Lorenzo, Cilento, Costa d'Amalfi, Falerno del Massico, Galluccio, Guardia Sanframondi/Guardiolo,
Irpinia, Ischia, Penisola Sorrentina, Sannio, Sant'Agata dei Goti, Solopaca and Vesuvio).

Sicily
Sicily has more vineyards than any of the other Italian regions competing with Apulia for first place as
the largest wine producer. Yet, Sicilians consume less wine per capita than any other Italian.

Many grapes are made into raisins, used in local cooking, and Sicilian grapes also play a large role in
creating dessert wines, which require a higher concentration of grapes and are consumed in smaller
quantities. In fact, in the world of international wine, Sicily is renowned for the many outstanding
dessert wines, such as the world-famous Marsala.

Though dessert wines account for about 90% of the total DOC production, we shouldn't disregard the
several good reds and whites that are produced all over the island by both large producers such as the
Conte di Salaparuta, which makes the well-known Corvo, Regaleali and Rapitalà, and the smaller estates
such as Donnafugata, Consorzio Agrario Provinciale di Trapani, and Fontanarossa among others.

Sardinia [Sardegna]
Sardinia (Sardegna to its Italian-speaking inhabitants) is a large island in the Mediterranean Sea, situated
a considerable distance off the west coast of mainland Italy. The closest mainland wine regions to
Sardinia are Tuscany and Lazio, 125 miles (200km) away, while Italy's other island region, Sicily, is 185
miles (300km) to the south-east. There are grape varieties with stronger French and Spanish origins:
Cannonau (a clone of Grenache), Carignan (called Carignano here), Cabernet Sauvignon and Bobal are
some of the most commonly found. Malvasia and Vermentino are present here, flying the Italian flag,
but even Vermentino can only just be considered an 'Italian' grape variety. The majority of Sardinian
vineyards lie in the west of the region, which is also where the more location-specific DOCs are found.
They line the west coast, running from south to north: Carignano del Sulcis, Vernaccia di Oristano,
Malvasia di Bosa and Alghero, even the large Cagliari DOC.