Alsace – A detailed look at the appellation’s top crus, broken out by town and the corresponding vineyard

Bordeaux – A detailed look at the region’s key districts, including the Médoc and its appellations, Pessac-Léognan, the Right Bank areas of Pomerol and St.-Emilion, and the sweet wine areas of Sauternes and Barsac

Burgundy / Red Wine – A look at key red-wine producing villages in the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune

Burgundy / White Wine – An overview of the appellations of Chablis, the Côte de Nuits, the Côte de Beaune, Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâconnais

Champagne – The heart of Champagne, including the districts of Côte des Blanc, Montagne de Reimans and Vallée de la Marne, plus key grand cru villages

Loire Valley – A detailed look at the appellations along the Loire River, from Muscadet to Chinon and Vouvray to Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé

Rhône Valley / Northern – A detailed look at the appellations along the northern Rhône River, including Côte-Rôte, Condrieu, Château Grillet, St.-Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Cornas and Saint-Péray

Rhône Valley / Southern – A detailed look at appellations including Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Vacqueyras, as well as the Côtes du Rhône and named Côtes du Rhône-Villages

Southern France – An overview of the appellations in the Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence and southern Rhône regions

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Italy – “The Land of Wine”

The ancient Greeks colonizing Italy named it “Onetria” – The Land of Wine.Thousands of years later, Italy remains a land of wine and wine is of major importance to Italian culture and everyday life.

Today, Italy is the second largest producer of wine in the world and on occasion exceeds the number one producer, France.In this regard, Italy is definitely an overachiever since it is only about 60% of France’s size.Amazingly, these two countries combined produce approximately two-thirds of the world’s wine.Grapevines are cultivated in all 20 of Italy’s regions ranging from the Alps in the north to the Island of Sicily in the south.For comparative purposes, in terms of land mass, Italy is about the size of Georgia and Florida combined or only about three quarters the size of California.

Most of Italy’s finest wines come from the north – the Piedmont region in the northwest, Tuscany in north-central, and the 3 regions in northeastern Italy collectively referred to as the Tre Venezie.

Italy’s most widely planted red grape is Sangiovese and Trebbiano is the most widely planted white grape.In all, there are over one thousand named varieties with some grapes being known by more than one name.Thus, the most confusing thing about Italian wines is its vast number of grapes planted and multiple names.

The ancient Romans defined the original wine production areas.The modern wine classification system began in 1963 and is modeled after France’s AOC system.Italy’s wine laws are intended to recognize and in some cases guarantee authenticity of style and place (but they do not necessarily guarantee quality).The governing body is the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC).At the top of the pyramid is Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita (DOCG) which essentially means the wine is of “controlled and guaranteed origin”.There are 25 DOCG appellations and of interest, over half of them are located in Piedmont and Tuscany.The next level is DOC or “controlled origin” of which there are over 300 DOC zones accounting for about 20% of Italy’s total wine production.The lowest tier is Vino da Tavola (VdT) or “table wine”.The most recent laws (in 1992) promoted certain VdT wines to a new and very important classification called Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) meaning the wines are “typical for the geographical region” identified.These are frequently the most modern styled wines and are classified by color, grape and regional “typicity”.In some ways, IGT is Italy’s answer to France’s Vin de Pays (VdP).In summary, IGT legitimized wines arising from the modern-styled, high-quality wines such as the so-called “Super-Tuscans” which previously could only be labeled as VdT.One of the biggest changes under the IGT laws was the use of previously non-permitted grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, as well as being produced using non-traditional methods. 

Common Label Terms

Abboccato – lightly sweet

Amabile – semi-sweet

Annata – vintage year

Azienda Agricola – wine estate which does not buy in grapes or wine, unlike an azienda vinicola

Bianco – white

Cantina – cellar or winery

Cantina sociale, cantina cooperative – co-operative winery

Casa vinicola – wine firm

Chiaretto – very pale red

Classico – original, rather than expanded, zone

Consorzio – growers’ association

Dolce – sweet

Fattoria – literally farm

Frizzante – semi-sparklingr

Gradi (alcool) – alcoholic strength as a percentage by volume

Imbottigliato (all’origine) bottled (at source)

Liquoroso – strong, usually fortified

Metodo classico, metodo tradizionale – bottle-fermented sparkling wine

Passito – strong, usually sweet wine made from dried grapes

Podere – very small agricultural property, smaller than a fattoria

Reciotto – wine made from half-dried grapes, a Veneto speciality

Riserva – special, long-aged selection

Rosato – rosé (rare in Italy)

Rosso – red

Secco – dry

Spumante – sparkling

Superiore – wine that has undergone more ageing than normal DOC and contains 0.5-1% more alcohol

Tenuta – holding or estate

Vendemmia – vintage

Vendemmia tardiva – late harvest

Vigna, vigneto – vineyard

Vignaiolo, viticoltore – vine-grower
Vino – wine