Search for the best Italian wines and you get the same thing every time: a tour of twenty regions, a map with arrows on it, and no answer to the question you actually asked, which was what to put in the trolley tonight. This is not that article.
What follows is a shortlist, sorted by what you are going to do with the bottle. Everything named here sits in our Italian wine collection, and every wine links straight through to its own page.
Two things that make an Italian wine list readable
The first is that Italian labels usually name a place rather than a grape. Barolo is a village zone in Piedmont, and the grape in the bottle is Nebbiolo. Chianti is a stretch of Tuscany, and the grape is mostly Sangiovese. Some names give you both at once, which is why Barbera d'Asti is easier to decode than most: Barbera the grape, Asti the place.
The second is the trap that catches almost everyone. Montepulciano is both a grape and a town, and they have nothing to do with each other. The grape is grown in Abruzzo and the Marche. The town sits in southeastern Tuscany, and its wine, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, is made from Sangiovese, with the DOCG requiring at least 70 per cent of it. A bottle labelled Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and a bottle labelled Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are two completely different drinks.
DOC and DOCG on a label are not marketing. They are production rules covering permitted grapes, minimum alcohol and minimum ageing. Barolo DOCG, for instance, must be 100 per cent Nebbiolo and must age a minimum of 38 months before release, at least 18 of them in wood. Riserva pushes that to 62 months. When you see those letters, you are being told what the producer was obliged to do.
The weeknight red
The job here is simple. It has to be good enough to enjoy on a Tuesday and forgiving enough to sit next to whatever is actually on the plate.
Ca Bianca Barbera d'Asti 2022 is the obvious starting point. Barbera d'Asti DOCG requires a minimum of 90 per cent Barbera, and the Superiore designation on this label adds a minimum of 14 months ageing, including six months in barrel. Ca' Bianca describe Barbera as one of the most representative vines of Piedmont, and that is fair: it is the grape the region drinks itself, rather than the one it exports as a trophy.
For something with a bit more weight, Villa Medoro Montepulciano 2021 comes from Atri, a hill town in the province of Teramo, in Abruzzo. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC asks for a minimum of 85 per cent Montepulciano in its standard form and only about three months of ageing before release, which tells you plainly what the style is built for. This is the grape, not the Tuscan town.
And if you want Tuscany without the Chianti paperwork, Frescobaldi Pater 2023 is Sangiovese from Florence under the broader Toscana IGT designation. IGT is a looser category than DOCG, which in practice means the producer has more room to move.
The one for anything with tomato in it
Sangiovese and tomato is not a cliche for no reason. If the meal involves a slow-cooked sauce, a pizza or a parmigiana, this is the section to shop from.
Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Riserva 2021 is the one to reach for when the meal matters. It is Sangiovese led, and the Riserva on the label carries a real obligation: under Chianti DOCG rules, Riserva wines must be aged a minimum of two years. Chianti DOCG itself requires at least 60 per cent Sangiovese.
Worth knowing while you are here: Chianti Classico is a separate DOCG, not a grade of Chianti DOCG. They are two different appellations that share a name, and Rufina is one of the eight subzones sitting inside Chianti DOCG proper. Nobody explains this on a shelf tag, which is how a lot of confusion starts.
For the everyday version of the same idea, Castellani Arbos Chianti DOCG 2024 is straightforward Sangiovese under the Chianti DOCG.
The bottle for a slow Sunday roast
This is where the Veneto earns its reputation, and where one production trick is worth understanding before you spend anything.
After Amarone or Recioto is made from dried grapes, the winery is left with pressed skins and lees that still have plenty in them. Under the Valpolicella Ripasso DOC, a finished Valpolicella is passed back over those drained but still fermenting lees, triggering a second fermentation lasting a minimum of three days. The result is a wine with more depth and more alcohol than a straight Valpolicella but without going all the way to Amarone. The DOC sets the blend at 45 to 95 per cent Corvina and Corvinone, 5 to 30 per cent Rondinella and a maximum of 25 per cent other authorised red grapes, with a minimum alcohol of 12.5 per cent, or 13 per cent for Superiore.
Zenato Ripassa 2020 is the bottle to start with if the category is new to you, because the name is simply the method. Zenato list it at Corvina, Oseleta and Rondinella, at 14 per cent alcohol.
If the roast is lighter, or the afternoon is warm, Santa Sofia Valpolicella 2023 is a straight Valpolicella from San Pietro in Cariano, one of the five communes that make up the historic Classico heartland, alongside Fumane, Marano, Negrar and Sant'Ambrogio. It is listed at Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella, at 12.5 per cent.
A white for a warm afternoon
Italian white wine tends to get written off in Australia, and a run of very ordinary Pinot Grigio has a lot to answer for. Two bottles worth correcting that with.
Santa Maria La Palma Papiri Vermentino di Sardegna 2024 comes from Alghero, on the northwest coast of Sardinia. Vermentino di Sardegna DOC requires a minimum of 85 per cent Vermentino, sets a minimum alcohol of 10.5 per cent for still whites, and unusually may be produced anywhere on the island rather than in a tightly drawn zone. Santa Maria La Palma describe Papiri as coming from the best bunches of ancient vineyards, hand harvested.
Terlano Pinot Grigio 2023 is the argument against writing off the variety. It comes from Alto Adige Terlano, in the German-speaking far north of Italy, where the Alto Adige DOC requires varietal Pinot Grigio to be a minimum of 85 per cent Pinot Grigio at a minimum of 11.5 per cent alcohol. Terlano is a named subzone in the province of Bolzano, its classic area covering the communes of Andriano, Nalles and Terlano itself. The producer notes pear, lychee and white melon on the nose.
The lighter red for when a big one is too much
Australian summers make a case for red wine that is not heavy, and Italy has more of this than almost anywhere.
Feudi del Pisciotto Frappato 2019 is 100 per cent Frappato from Niscemi in Sicily. Frappato is best known as the junior partner in Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, where the rules call for 30 to 50 per cent Frappato blended with 50 to 70 per cent Nero d'Avola. Seeing it on its own is the more interesting proposition.
Velenosi Il Brecciarolo Rosso Piceno 2021 comes from the Marche. Rosso Piceno DOC is a blend appellation by design, requiring 35 to 85 per cent Montepulciano with 15 to 50 per cent Sangiovese and no more than 15 per cent of anything else, which is a neat summary of what central Italy does when it stops trying to be Tuscany.
Something worth putting away
If you are buying for a birthday, a cellar or a bottle you want to open in a few years, Italy offers two very different answers, and both are defined by their rules rather than their marketing.
Ca Bianca Barolo DOCG 2020 is Nebbiolo under the Barolo DOCG, which as above means 100 per cent Nebbiolo, 38 months minimum ageing and 18 of those in wood before it can be sold. That is a long time for a producer to have money sitting in a cellar, and it is part of the reason Barolo is not an everyday bottle.
Zenato Amarone Riserva Sergio 2018 takes the other route. Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG is made by appassimento: after harvest the grapes are air dried until they will reach a minimum potential alcohol of 14 per cent, and they generally cannot be vinified before 1 December. The finished wine must reach 14 per cent alcohol, and a Riserva must age a minimum of four years. This one carries the Classico designation and, according to Zenato, spends at least four years in Slavonian oak casks.
Lamberti Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG 2018 comes from Cavaion Veronese, and Lamberti describe drying the bunches naturally for around 100 days in ventilated spaces before fermenting them in January.
There is also a sensible middle step. Rocche Manzoni Nebbiolo 2022 is Nebbiolo from Monforte d'Alba, one of the Barolo communes, but bottled without the long mandatory ageing that Barolo demands. If you want to find out whether you like Nebbiolo before committing to a Barolo, start here.
Something sweet for the end of a meal
Vin Santo is the traditional finish to a Tuscan meal, and the method is the whole point. Solo Arte Vin Santo is made the traditional way: the bunches are hung up to wither in a ventilated room known as a vinsantaia, in this case Malvasia Bianca with a few Trebbiano. For a sense of what the style asks of a producer, the Vin Santo del Chianti DOC rules require a minimum of 70 per cent Malvasia Bianca Lunga and Trebbiano Toscano, grapes dried to at least 260 grams per litre of sugar, and roughly three years in barrel. It comes in a 500ml bottle, which is the traditional format for the style.
Marenco Scrapona Moscato d'Asti 2020 is the lighter option, and a genuinely useful bottle to have in the fridge. Moscato d'Asti is made from Moscato Bianco in Piedmont, and its rules are what make it what it is: a minimum actual alcohol of only 4.5 per cent, and a pressure limit of 2.5 atmospheres, which is why it is gently frizzante rather than properly sparkling. This one is a 375ml bottle.
A short checklist before you buy
- Read the place, then work out the grape. Barolo means Nebbiolo. Chianti means mostly Sangiovese. Barbera d'Asti tells you both.
- Check whether Montepulciano is the grape or the town. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is the grape. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is Sangiovese from Tuscany.
- Treat Riserva as a fact, not a flourish. Under Chianti DOCG it means at least two years ageing. Under Amarone DOCG it means at least four.
- Classico is geography, not quality. In Valpolicella it names the five historic communes, nothing more.
- Chianti and Chianti Classico are separate appellations. One is not a grade of the other.
- Ripasso sits between Valpolicella and Amarone. If Amarone is more than you want, that is the category to look at.
None of this requires memorising a map. It requires knowing what the words on the front label are obliged to mean, and then buying for the meal in front of you rather than for the region on the bottle. When you are ready, the full range is in our Italian wine collection, and if you would rather take the scenic route through the country region by region, that is what our guide to Italian wine regions is for.