Will Lyons on wine: The Italian job

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 13:48

DOES anyone understand Italian wine? I mean really understand the country and its wines in the same way as we do with France or New Zealand perhaps.

If they do, I can't find them. Sure, everyone bats off a basic knowledge. We all know that chianti comes from Tuscany, a region that is also home to Brunello di Montalcino and a slew of wines made from familiar French grape varieties known as the super-Tuscans.

Some of us may even know that chianti is made from sangiovese grapes and has a rich, plummy character, and that it can often taste a little astringent and bitter but improves remarkably with food. Film buffs will know that certain fictional serial killers like to serve it with human liver. We've heard of and tried pinot grigio, soave, prosecco and valpolicella. And yet, with more than 1,000 indigenous grape varieties to explore, a complicated, bizarre, often meaningless, classification system and a sea of undrinkable, cheap wine, Italy can infuriate like no other.

As one senior buyer, recently back from a buying trip to Tuscany, says: "I just love Italy. There are so many awesome wines. But just don't ask me to understand it; I'm still hopelessly in the dark." Flick through most wine books and the message is the same: baffling, frustrating and complicated are just some of the adjectives used to describe the country and its wines. Hugh Johnson, author of The World Atlas of Wine, remarks: "Comprehending Italian wine has been likened to attempting to map the interior of a beehive."

So where do we start? Unlike France, which for the last 200 years has been creating a workable and understandable structure for its wine industry, Italy has really only just begun to have a system. This may seem perverse, given that Italy has been producing wine for as long as anywhere else – certainly as long as France – but it is easier to comprehend if you understand the Italian approach to wine.

In Italy, wine is served and drunk much in the way we might eat bread. In other words, it is served with every meal as a matter of course (I can't vouch for breakfast). It is not there to be drunk like beer or to be swirled, spat and critiqued, it is simply drunk with food and never to excess. Similarly, its production has traditionally been localised – a farmer making wine for his family and neighbours.

If you take these factors into account, it is perhaps not surprising that chianti alone has more than 7,000 growers. Imagine trying to organise these producers into a workable structure? The authorities have tried aping the French Appellation d'Origine Contrle system, which guarantees the quality of wines from a particular region. Italian wines sold in the UK are generally labelled Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) or Denominazione di Origine Controllata et Garantita (DOCG). DOCG wines are a notch up in terms of quality. Vina da Tavola accounts for table wines.

But here is the catch. In the past, some of Italy's top producers have been classified as Vina da Tavola, having been excluded from the DOC or DOCG categories because of the grapes or wine-making practices they use. A little like a Premier League football team plying its trade in the Second Division. On the plus side, all this confusion keeps us wine hacks in a job. Here are three Italians to try.

2004 Chianti Riserva, Bonacchi, Tuscany, Italy, 12.5 per cent, 9.99

This sits in the glass with a deep ruby colour. The nose is rich and gamey with a spicy, almost mulled expression on the palate. A fantastic vintage, this has a restrained elegance and is sensational for the price.

2003 Chianti Classico Riserva Berardo, Castello di Bossi, Tuscany, Italy, 13.5 per cent, 18.99

Drinking well now, this is a blend of 85 per cent sangiovese and 15 per cent merlot. The wines are made separately and then matured for 12 months in French oak. The result is very ripe and rich, with blackberries and a hint of toasted oak. The palate is full-bodied with a solid core of fruit and a medium finish.

2003 Corbaia, Castello di Bossi, Tuscany, Italy, 14 per cent, 36.99

This super-Tuscan, a blend of 70 per cent sangiovese and 30 per cent caberne, shows superb depth of colour. The nose is complex and there are notes of jam, tobacco, coffee and sweet plum, with sleek, structured tannins.

STOCKISTS: Inverarity Vaults (01899 308000, www.inverarity-vaults.com); Inverarity One to One (0141-221 5121, www.inverarity121.com)

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