Italy: General Introduction Flashcards
Italy: Overall Climate
- long thin contry
35-47oN - Appennines run the center
-most regions are Warm, Mediterranean with sea , maritime influence
Exceptions : Veneto , Trentino Alto-Adige - continental
Italy: Overall Vineyard Management
-since WW2, compete change to modern,trellised vineyards
-In the north, Pergola training was common in high volume areas
-Mixed planting in Tuscany
-Bush vines in the South
Still used in hot areas for shade and where hand picking is common
2019, 19% of all Italy vines are certified organic or in conversion with Sicily, Tuscany and Puglia accounting for 50%
Italy: Grape Varieties
-375-500 unidentified local varieties
These are the top planted grapes as per 2016
Sangiovese
Trebbiano Toscano
Montepulciano
Catarrato Bianco
Merlot
Chardonnay
Glera
Trebbiano Romagnalo
Pinot Grigio
Barbera
Italy: Winemaking
- developed as a result of white wine influences from Germany - using protective SS , temperature controlled tanks
and red wines from France - using small, oak barriques
-Traditionally red wines were matured in large casks
( 1,000-5,000L ) made of Slovanian oak for slow oxidation - in the 90’s ,a mbitious winemakers used new French oak with Bordeaux varieties and withs ome Nebbiolo and Sangiovese
- last 20 years have seen the reversal back to large format barrels or concrete
- New French oka is only used for high quality Bordeaux blends and top quality Barbera while Nebbiolo and Sangiovese no longer have pronounced flavours of oak
Italy : Wine Law and Regulations : DOC and DOCG
- first region to define areas legally was Central Tuscany with outlined criminal penalties for false claims - est 1716
**DOC and DOCG :
**
incorporated into EU Law, the first vintage of the DOC system was in 1967
Otherwise wines were ‘vino de tavola’- simple everyday wines or for some that did not qualify for DOC incl. :
-wines made in areas that were not at the time covered by DOC eg. Super Tuscan Sassicaia in Bolgheri ( not know for high qaulity wines )
1994 - Bolgheri DOC was created for the Super Tuscans
- Wines that did not conform to the rules of DOC as writen .
Eg. Le Pergole Torte - made their wine in Tuscany with 100% Sangiovese although the law was to add white wine for a Chianti Classico - Montevertine left the consortium and called his wine ‘vino de tavola’ until the IGT category was introduced
DOCG - has stricter rules with lower yields
est. 1980
More prestigious wine regions have DOCG and study the characteristic of the regions
Zones have been introduced
eg. Barolo DOCG Bussia must be grown in the Bussia region Barolo
Also,
**Classico - only grapes from a defined historical regions DOC, DOCG
-**Superiore - Higher min abv % , typically 0.5%
**Riserva - submitted to a certain ageing period , min 2 yrs for reds and one year for whites
Some specify which part of this tie must be in oak
Italy: IGT
est. 1992 ( same as the Vin de Pays ) and now protected geogrphical indication PGI
- wines that are from a larger geographical areas and have more allowance for grape varieties and higher yields than DOC / DOCG
- eg. IGT Toscana - range of styles from white, red, rose, dry, *abboccato, frizzante and *novello , sweet wines from *passito or late harvest grapes , *vendemmia tardiva.
-Grapes can be grown in any suitable place in all of Tuscany with any registered variety
- Italian system incorporated in to the EU system PDO in 2008
DOP or IGP can be used
or traditional DOC/ DOCG for PDO wines ( fall into PDO )
IGT can be labelled IGP or IGT
VIno is the most basic
Italy: Wine Business
Since 2021, Italy has been the largest producer of wine at 48 million h/L
- Average size of land holding is only 2.3 ha and many bring fruit to co-ops and mercahnts or large vinifiers
- Top five companies
Cantine and Riunite
Caviro
Botter Carlo - private
Antinori - private
Cavit
Co-ops are 55% of all production
-While wine consumption is decling , spirits and beer has grown
2021 saw a modest rise to consumption ( COVID )
- looking to export markets
44% in 2021
Divided by still wine 70% and Sparkling 30%
Most important export markets are USA , Germany and UK , Switzerland and Canada
