Italian Fine Wine

Italy is home to a vast array of indigenous grape varieties. Italy’s reputation for fine wine is built on its ability to produce a vast array of styles - part of which makes this country so special. There are as many as a thousand different varieties, often found in tiny niche quantities in individual regions; the most famous region outside of Piedmont and Tuscany is Veneto, home to Valpolicella and Amarone.

With a long rich wine history, Veneto offers an array of different grapes and styles due to its many microclimates. In particular the wines of Valpolicella, produced around the foothills near Verona, range from light, fruity styles through to immensely rich, full-bodied wines. Some of these wines are made using the passito method, where fresh grapes are partially dried in the sun on mats, or with the ripasso method, where the wine is “re-passing” through previously pressed and dried grapes skins.

The most famous producers in Veneto are Romano dal Forno and Giuseppe Quintarelli, both renowned for making hugely rich, concentrated and age-worthy wines.