The following
survey of the wines of Italy’s 20 regions follows a geographical pattern
which divides the country into four sections: The South and Islands; Central
regions; North Central and Northwest regions; Northeast regions. Similarities
often exist within these sections in terms of climate and geography, as
well as in grape varieties, vineyard maintenance and enological practices.
But the divisions are rather arbitrary, designed more to aid the reader’s
orientation than to point up clear distinctions. Italian wines are most
accurately perceived region by region.Each of the 20 regions is a political entity with certain powers of its own in balance with national laws. Every region is further divided into provinces which take the name of a principal city or town. A capsule introduction to each region lists the capital and provinces, size and population, vineyard area and wine production and rank in each category. There is also a listing, first of DOC or DOCG wines and then of IGT wines. Since a great deal of information needed to be packed into limited space, each wine is described through abbreviations which follow this key:
R – Red (rosso)
W– White (bianco)
P – Pink (rosato, rosé, chiaretto, cerasuolo)
Dry– Dry (secco, brut)
Sw – Sweet or semisweet (dolce, amabile, abboccato)
Sp – Sparkling (spumante)
Fz – Fizzy or faintly bubbly (frizzante, frizzantino, vivace)
Ft – Fortified or naturally high in alcohol (liquoroso)
Rs – Reserve (riserva)
Sup – Superior (superiore, in reference to higher alcohol, longer aging or a specific subzone)
Ag – Aged, as required by DOC or DOCG in number of years