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Central and Southern Italy

Table of Contents
  1. Tuscany (Toscana)
  2. Umbria
  3. Marches (Marche)
  4. Abruzzo
  5. Latium (Lazio)
  6. Molise
  7. Campania
  8. Apulia (Puglia)
  9. Basilicata
  10. Calabria
  11. Siciliy (Sicilia)
  12. Sardinia (Sardegna)
  13. Review Quizzes

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Tuscany (Toscana)

On the Tyrrhenian Coast of Italy, the region of Tuscany has become a byword for Italian culture. A famous artistic legacy and rich history match the natural beauty of the Tuscan countryside, unfolding in waves of golden and green hills that ebb and flow between the Apennine Mountains and the sea.



Wine is deeply embedded in Tuscany’s cultural heritage—the famous medieval Florentine poet Dante Alighieri praised the Vernaccia of San Gimignano, and legislation delimiting the Chianti zone dates to 1716. The first DOC and DOCG zones to be authorized in Italy were Tuscan. Wine and commercial agriculture are big business in Tuscany, and the hills are a patchwork of olive tree groves, vineyards, and wheat fields—a natural evolution of the “promiscuous” agriculture that ancient Romans practiced, wherein these three staple crops of Tuscany were planted side by side in the same fields. In the past, Chianti was synonymous with Italian wine—and a reminder, not unfairly, of its troubled quality. Historically bottled in a fiasco due to the inferior quality of Italian glass, the squat, straw-covered Chianti bottles came to epitomize the rustic, cheap nature of Italian wine in the late 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Tuscany’s winemakers have responded with a surge in quality over the last quarter century, slashing vineyard yields and building on the successes of the “Super-Tuscan” trailblazers Marquis Mario Rocchetta, who released the first commercial vintage of Sassicaia in 1968, and his nephew Piero Antinori, whose Tignanello bottling soon followed. While the benchmark for quality has been raised significantly, it may be at the expense of typicity—the Bordeaux grapes and model of winemaking extend great influence over the modern Tuscan
Comments

  • The section on Cerasuolo di Vittoria includes the following text: 'DOCG regulations limit maceration in order to maintain the vibrant cherry-red (Cerasuolo) color of the wine.' Where are such regulations to be found? I'm having difficulty locating any such restrictions in the Disciplinare di Produzione, and a commercial source indicates that Occhipinti's Grotte Alte Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico sees 30 days of maceration before pressing, so I'm wondering just how restrictive the requirements could be. (Of course, that commercial source also denotes the wine as a 'Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG Riserva' while I'm finding no evidence that a Riserva notation exists, nor that the wine is actually labelled as such, so grains of salt and all that . . .)

  • in reply to user19232

    Hi Keith, Vin Santo Liquoroso tends to be lower quality, so I think you're probably correct. Not sure if there are exceptions to this...

  • Regarding the following statement: "Vin santo may be fortified, and labeled liquoroso." Are there any DOCs that allow this or is this practice limited to Wines without Geographical Indication? I'm not seeing any mention of liquoroso styles in each Disciplinare di Produzione and the commercial examples I've found would suggest that bottles labeled as 'Vin Santo Vino Liquoroso' are not labeled with a Geographical Indication such as a DOC or IGT.

  • in reply to user33359

    The Disciplinare attached mentions that Vernaccia di Oristano Normale, Superiore and Riserva do not get fortified, while the Liquoroso does. Liquoroso can be dry or sweet.    Jennifer Angelosante

  • in reply to user34942

    Yes, it does look like Trebbiano Abruzzese is the grape, while Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is the name of the wine. Thanks!

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