Italy

After decades, centuries even, in the shadow of its neighbour France, Italy is finally getting the attention it deserves for its ancient and classic fine wines. It has always had the cards to play at the top table of fine wine – lofty sedimentary, calcareous and volcanic soils, noble autochthonous grapes bringing its individual terroir to life, a peerless gastronomic culture and a rich viticultural heritage – yet for centuries history has dealt it a tough hand.

In the North, the key fine-wine styles, alongside Dolcetto and Barbera, are those of Piedmont’s Barbaresco and Barolo, born of the noble Nebbiolo grape, that combine rose perfume with extraordinary ageing potential of up to 20 years and beyond; the smaller volcanic zones of Gattinara and Bramaterra in the Alto Piedmont should also be considered. The Veneto’s Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso and Amarone are revered for their rich yet suave dried-fruit decadence, especially from the Corvina and Rondinella fruit grown in the hilly Classico villages.

Tuscany, in Italy’s Centre, is now undergoing something of a revolution itself as it rediscovers the bead-like beauty of their red Sangiovese grape: either through the fuller bodied wines of  Brunello di Montalcino, the more reserved yet high-browed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano or as the brilliantly chiselled Chianti Classico; all three styles are capable of ageing for up to 20 years at least; Montecucco is a new zone to watch out for as it challenges neighbouring Montalcino.

Across the Appenines on the eastern seaboard of Italy one comes across the white Verdicchio grape of the Marche, which when grow at altitude in the Matelica zone is capable of impressive, Chardonnay-esque bottle development. Further down the Adriatic coast, the Abruzzo region is an emerging fine wine trove, now serving up lithe whites from the Trebbiano d’Abruzzo grape, or there are the brooding, soot and bramble reds of the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape; both capable for 10-15 yrs cellaring.

Just across the Abruzzo border lies landlocked Umbria, famous for salty Orvieto but more importantly for cellaring: the Châteauneuf-like red Sagrantino di Montefalco.

The South of Italy is particularly famous for the black Aglianico grape; otherwise known as the ‘Nebbiolo of the South’ on account of its noble elegance, natural balance and prodigious potential once in bottle. In the state of Basilicata, high up on the slopes of the volcanic Vulture mountain it transforms into Aglianico del Vulture wine, a full, broad, smoky wine with 10 yrs + ageing; while across the border in Campania, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, the presence of calcareous white soils overlain with ash gives added verve and sinew to Aglianico’s extraordinary Taurasi wine, whose quivering energy imbues it with even longer life. In the state of Basilicata, high up on the slopes of the volcanic Monte Vulture it transforms into Aglianico del Vulture, a full, broad, smoky wine with at least 10 years’ ageing; while across the border in Campania, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, the presence of calcareous white soils overlain with ash gives added verve and sinew to Aglianico’s extraordinary Taurasi wine, whose quivering energy imbues it with even longer life.

Meanwhile, from the stilettoed heel of Italy, in Puglia, come the full, heady, sumptuous, forest-fruit Primitivos that bear a fleeting resemblance to California’s Zinfandel; while, finally, in Sicily, from another lava-flow vineyard (that of Mount Etna) you’ll find the Etna Rosso wines, a supremely complex, red-orange-fruited, spice and smoky thing born of the local Nerello Mascalese grape. If it’s wine for investment you’re after, you need to head to the Bolgheri region of Tuscany, where French varieties Cabernet and Merlot are grown on the coast, producing those aforementioned Super Tuscans: wines made to a similar recipe to those on the Gironde, but with more sun and a distinctly Italian accent.