Italy at Your Table: Where beauty meets deliciousness

The Italian Gourmet Road Show

Welcome to the world of Italian Fine Wine and gourmet treasures. This short Italian wine and food guide will take you for an Italian Wine Journey

 Introduction

First of all you need to open your mind to let a few new words into your wine vocabulary. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling is what most people know and purchase. Of course Italy makes some amazing Merlot and Chardonnay, but this country grows over four hundred different grape varieties, classified in hundreds of appellations and at least 20,000 labels worth trying!

Italy has roughly 60 million inhabitants and more or less the same amount of hectoliters of wine, equivalent to eight billion bottles produced each year, which accounts for one fourth of the world total wine output.

This is a life time journey: Aglianico, Croatina, Fiano, Greco, Molinara, Nebbiolo, Rondinella, Sagrantino, Sangiovese, Vespolina are but a few of your new wine companions which will reward you with a wine experience packed with character, power and pleasure!

Very often great Italian wines are made in immaculate Leonardo da Vinci landscapes, where the wine makers lives. Thousands of years of Fine Art has been metabolized by these farmers and transfered into beautiful countryside and delicious wines. As a result, their agricultural practices are naturally organic even when not officially certified. Beautiful, delicious and…healthy!

Let’s start covering the basics of the major Italian wines. Use this little wine guide to get a taste of the mighty world of Italian Fine Wines. Enjoy!

Southern Italy

Southern Italy has always been the stock house of European reds! Known for its dessert wines, like Zibibbo or Marsala, today a huge array of good value for money reds and whites are available on the market. Starting from Sicily, Europe’s biggest island, one can enter a world apart. You can find a lot of Igt and Vino da Tavola made with the flagship fruit bomb variety Nero d’Avola. But the most intriguing area is now the Mount Etna with its Burgundian style Nerello Mascalese.

Top wineries in Sicily: Biondi, Donnafugata, Fessina, Passopisciaro, Tasca di Almerita, Terre Nere.

But the king of Southern Italy is Aglianico: a thick and long lasting serious red, which in Campania, one hour drive inland from the Amalfi Coast, is called Taurasi. Often described as the Barolo of the South, this is one of the finest wines of  Italy. The same variety in Basilicata goes under the name of Aglianico del Vulture. Fiano, Graco di Tufo and Falanghina can boost pretty juicy and refreshing whites. Top wineries: Feudi di San Gregorio, Luigi Tecce, Mastroberardino, Terredora.

Puglia can boast some very structured and extractive reds produced with Primitivo di Manduria or Negroamaro (Top wineries: Chiaromonte, Longo, Castel del Monte, Polvanera, Vallone).

Sardinia has been finally catching up with the rest of Italian Renaissance with very mineral and spicy Cannonau -the red island flagship variety and the deeply savory and complex Vermentino (white).Top wineries: Argiolas, Capichera, Gabbas, Sella & Mosca, Sedilesu.

Chocolate. Modica.

Do not forget to have a chocolate treat while traveling in Sicily. Antica Dolceria Bonajuto in Modica, in the world Unesco Heritage site of the Val di Noto, produces one of Italy’s most sought after artisan chocolate with recipes dating back to the Atzecs. Their workshop located in the heart of this beautiful nativity looking Sicilian town is a little corner of paradise. Here, everyday, Pierpaolo Ruta and his father release small, extremely tasty dreams of the purest chocolate which will load you with antioxidants and endorphins.

Taurasi. Amalfi Coast. 

Feudi di San Gregorio is the most beautiful cellar in southern Italy, located only less then an hour away from the enchanted Amalfi Coast. A complex of modern architecture surrounded by rose and mediterranean herbs gardens disguises the presence of a cutting edge cellar. The whites made from the ancient Greco, Fiano or Falanghina are all packed with natural force and zest. Their first vintage in 1993  is still one of the most eloquent examples of one of Italy’s most structured reds. Feudi di San Gregorio is also home to a beautiful and delicious restaurant called Marennà.

The second part of this Italian journey (Central Italy) will be published on the next newsletter.