Italy Tourism: Drinks

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Italy is the largest wine-producing country in the world; as far back as 800 B.C. the Etruscans were vintners. It's said that more soil is used in Italy for the cultivation of grapes than for the growing of food. Many Italian farmers produce wine just for their own consumption or for their relatives in "the big city." However, it wasn't until 1965 that laws were enacted to guarantee regular consistency in wine making. Wines regulated by the government are labeled "DOC" (Denominazione di Origine Controllata). If you see "DOCG" on a label (the "G" means garantita), that means even better quality control.

The Vineyards of Italy

Following traditions established by the ancient Greeks, Italy produces more wine than any other nation. More than 1.6 million hectares (4 million acres) of soil are cultivated as vineyards, and recently there has been an increased emphasis on recognizing vintages from lesser-known growers who might or might not be designated as working within a zone of controlled origin and name. (It's considered an honor, and usually a source of profit, to own vines within a DOC. Vintners who are presently limited to marketing their products as unpretentious table wines -- vino di tavola -- often expend great efforts lobbying for an elevated status as a DOC.)

Italy's wine producers range from among the most automated and technologically sophisticated in Europe to low-tech, labor-intensive family plots that turn out just a few hundred bottles per year. You can sometimes save money by buying directly from a producer (the signs beside the highway of any wine-producing district will advertise VENDITA DIRETTA). Not only will you avoid paying the retailer's markup, but you also might get a glimpse of the vines that produced the vintage that you carry home with you.

Useful vocabulary words for such endeavors are bottiglieria (a simple wine shop) and enoteca (a more upscale shop where many vintages, from several growers, are displayed and sold like magazines in a bookstore). In some cases, you can buy a glass of the product before you buy the bottle, and platters of cold cuts or cheeses are sometimes available to offset the tang (and alcoholic effects) of the wine.

Regional Wines

Here we've cited only a few popular wines. Rest assured that there are hundreds more, and you'll have a great time sampling them to find your own favorites.

Latium: In this major wine-producing region, many of the local wines come from the Castelli Romani, the hill towns around Rome. Horace and Juvenal sang the praises of Latium wines even in imperial times. These wines, experts agree, are best drunk when young, and they're most often white, mellow, and dry (or "demi-sec"). There are seven types, including Falerno (straw yellow in color) and Cecubo (often served with roast meat). Try also Colli Albani (straw yellow with amber tints, served with both fish and meat). The golden yellow wines of Frascati are famous, produced in both a demi-sec and a sweet variety, the latter served with dessert.

Tuscany: Tuscan wines rank with some of the finest reds in France. Chianti is the best known, and it comes in several varieties. The most highly regarded is Chianti Classico, a lively ruby-red wine mellow in flavor with a bouquet of violets. A good label is Antinori. A lesser known but remarkably fine Tuscan wine is Brunello di Montalcino, a brilliant garnet red served with roasts and game. The ruby-red, almost purple, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano has a rich, rugged body; it's a noble wine that's aged for 4 years. The area around San Gimignano produces a light, sweet white wine called Vernaccia. While you're in Tuscany, order the wonderful dessert wine called Vin Santo, which tastes almost like sherry and is usually accompanied by biscotti that you dunk into your glass.

Emilia-Romagna: The sparkling Lambrusco of this region is, by now, best known by Americans, but this wine can be of widely varying quality. Most of it is a brilliant ruby red. Be more experimental, and try such wines as the dark ruby red Sangiovese (with a delicate bouquet) and the golden yellow Albana, somewhat sweet. Trebbiano, generally dry, is best served with fish.

The Veneto: From this rich breadbasket in northeastern Italy come such world-famous wines as Bardolino (a light ruby red often served with poultry), Valpolicella (produced in "ordinary quality" and "superior dry," best served with meats), and Soave (beloved by W. Somerset Maugham), which has a pale amber color with a light aroma and a velvety flavor. Also try one of the Cabernets, either the ruby-red Cabernet di Treviso (ideal with roasts and game) or the even deeper ruby-red Cabernet Franc, which has a marked herbal bouquet and is served with roasts.

Trentino-Alto Adige: This area produces wine influenced by Austria. Known for its vineyards, the region has some 20 varieties of wine. The straw-yellow, slightly pale-green Riesling is served with fish, as is the pale green-yellow Terlano. Santa Maddalena, a cross between garnet and ruby, is served with wild fowl and red meats, and Traminer, straw yellow, has a distinctive aroma and is served with fish. A Pinot Bianco, straw yellow with greenish glints, has a light bouquet and a noble history, and is also served with fish.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia: This area attracts those who enjoy a "brut" wine with a trace of flint. From classic grapes come Merlot, deep ruby in color, and several varieties of Pinot, including Pinot Grigio, whose color ranges from straw yellow to gray-pink (good with fish). Also served with fish, the Sauvignon has a straw-yellow color and a delicate bouquet.

Lombardy: These wines are justly renowned -- and, if you don't believe us, would you instead take the advice of Leonardo da Vinci, Pliny, and Virgil? These great men have sung the praise of this wine-rich region bordered by the Alps to the north and the Po River to the south. To go with the tasty, refined cuisine of the Lombard kitchen are such wines as Frecciarossa (a pale straw-yellow color with a delicate bouquet -- order it with fish), Sassella (bright ruby red -- order it with game, red meat, and roasts), and the amusingly named Inferno (a deep ruby red with a penetrating bouquet -- order it with meats).

The Piedmont: The finest wines in Italy, mostly red, are said to be produced on the vine-clad slopes of the Piedmont. Of course, Asti Spumante, the color of straw with an abundant champagnelike foam, is the prototype of Italian sparkling wines. While traveling through this area of northwestern Italy, you'll want to sample Barbaresco (brilliant ruby red with a delicate flavor -- order it with red meats), Barolo (also brilliant ruby red, best when it mellows into a velvety old age), Cortese (pale straw yellow with green glints -- order it with fish), and Gattinara (an intense ruby-red beauty in youth that changes with age). Piedmont is also the home of vermouth, a white wine to which aromatic herbs and spices, among other ingredients, have been added; it's served as an aperitif.

Liguria: This area doesn't have as many wine-producing regions as other parts of Italy, yet it grows dozens of different grapes. These are made into such wines as Dolceacqua (lightish ruby red, served with hearty food) and Vermentino Ligure (pale yellow with a good bouquet, often served with fish).

Campania: From the volcanic soil of Vesuvius, the wines of Campania have been extolled for 2,000 years. Homer praised the glory of Falerno, straw yellow in color. Neapolitans are fond of ordering a wine known as Lacrima Christi ("tears of Christ") to accompany many seafood dishes. It comes in amber, red, and pink. With meat dishes, try the dark mulberry-color Gragnano, which has a faint bouquet of faded violets. The reds and whites of Ischia and Capri are also justly renowned.

Apulia: The heel of the Italian boot, Apulia, produces more wine than any other part of Italy. Try Castel del Monte, which comes in shades of pink, white, and red. Other wines of the region are the dull red Aleatico di Puglia, with a mellow taste so sweet and aromatic that it's almost a liqueur; Barletta, a highly alcoholic wine made from grapes grown around Troia; the notably pleasant and fragrant Mistella, a really fleshy wine usually offered with desserts; the brilliant amber Moscato della Murge, aromatic and sweet; Moscato di Trani, which is velvety and tastes of a bouquet of faded roses; and Primitivo di Gioia, a full-bodied acid wine that, when dry, appears with roasts and, when sweet, appears with desserts. One of the region's best wines to drink with fish is Torre Giulia, which is dark yellow tending toward amber -- a "brut" wine with a distinctive bouquet.

Sicily: The wines of Sicily, called a "paradise of the grape," were extolled by the ancient poets, including Martial. Caesar himself lavished praise on Mamertine when it was served at a banquet honoring his third consulship. Marsala, an amber wine served with desserts, is the most famous wine of Sicily; it's velvety and fruity and sometimes used in cooking, as in veal Marsala. The wines made from grapes grown in the volcanic soil of Etna come in both red and white varieties. Also try the Corvo Bianco di Casteldaccia (straw yellow, with a distinctive bouquet) and the Corvo Rosso di Casteldaccia (ruby red, almost garnet, full-bodied and fruity).

Other Drinks

Italians drink other libations as well. Their most famous drink is Campari, bright red in color and flavored with herbs; it has a quinine bitterness to it. It's customary to serve it with ice cubes and soda.

Limoncello, a bright yellow drink made by infusing pure alcohol with lemon zest, has become Italy's second-most popular drink. It has long been a staple in the lemon-producing region along the Amalfi Coast in Capri and Sorrento, and recipes for the sweetly potent concoction have been passed down by families there for generations. About a decade ago, restaurants in Sorrento, Naples, and Rome started making their own versions. Visitors to those restaurants as well as the Sorrento peninsula began singing limoncello's praises and requesting bottles to go. Now it's one of the most up-and-coming liqueurs in the world, thanks to heavy advertising promotions.

Beer, once treated as a libation of little interest, is still far inferior to wines produced domestically, but foreign beers, especially those of Ireland and England, are gaining great popularity with Italian youth, especially in Rome. This popularity is mainly because of atmospheric pubs, which now number more than 300 in Rome alone, where young people linger over a pint and a conversation. Most pubs are in the Roman center, and many are licensed by Guinness and its Guinness Italia operations. In a city with 5,000 watering holes, 300 pubs might seem like a drop, but because the clientele is young, the wine industry is trying to devise a plan to keep that drop from becoming a steady stream of Italians who prefer grain to grapes.

High-proof grappa is made from the "leftovers" after the grapes have been pressed. Many Italians drink this before or after dinner (some put it into their coffee). It's an acquired taste -- to an untrained foreign palate, it often seems rough and harsh.

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