What italian wine do you prefer?

Chiu Lin said:
I drink very little Italian wines and only limit to these few producers: Elio Altare, Clerico, and Paolo Scavino from Piedmont, Paolo Bea and Arnaldo Caprai from Umbria if I can find them!
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Interrsting you like the Montefalco wines Chiu - beautiful place to visit.

Is it the Sagrantino you enjoy?

Myself I came to the conclusion I far preferred the Rosso de Montefalco wines with just a seasoning of the main grape.

Caprai make the most astonishing Olive oil should you visit/see it.
 
We drink a lot of prosecco. I have had some lovely whites in the Veneto, but difficult to get them in the UK. I love Valpollicella and Amarone and am exploring Sangiovesse and finding that there are some lovely wines with plenty of aging potential.
 
Setefano, your English is far superior to my Italian so no need to apologise. As others have said Prosecco and Pinot Grigio dominate the UK market in terms of Italian wine, in fact the entry level base of Italian wine is incredibly dull in the UK.

Once you hit the mid range €15+ things get much more interesting and there is massive diversity in the UK market. Ian sums it up quite nicely.
 
Stefano Pozzi said:
Wow, curious! Can you find easly montepulciano in england?
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Yes.

I get a lot of The Wine Society's own label (from the Roxan co-operative) and they also list one other. Majestic list three Montepulciano de Abruzzo. The supermarkets also stock them.

As others have said, the big Italian favourites with general wine drinkers are Pinot Grigio and Prosecco.
Restaurant wine lists often have Sicily wines, more frequently now a local variety like Nero d'Avalo is blended with a more well known name such as Shiraz.

Also Puglia Primitivo is appearing under the name Zinfandel in both red and pink versions, probably because its cheaper to source for the restaurant then Californian and the general diner doesn't notice
 
Sadly, despite these useful cheapies, there are very few really good examples of Montepulciano. Lots at the bottom end of the market, but very little I find that interests me in the middle bracket which provides rich pickings in Italy. Annoying, as I much prefer Montepulciano (and Aglianico) to Sangiovese...
 
The wines we enjoy most are from the Friuli, Alto Adige, and Trentino, although I am not in any way making an argument that these are the best wines from Italy. These areas have good indigenous grape varieties that make intriguing wines. From the Friuli you have the excellent indigenous ribolla gialla, friulano, pignolo, refosco and picolit, from the Trentino cassetta, foja tonda, gropello di revo, nosiola, teroldego, marzemino and others, and from the Alto Adige lagrein (vernatsch, although indigenous, I've never found to be better than average). These areas also produce creditable chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot bianco/weissburgunder, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, and pinot nero. We drink a surprising number of these wines every year. In fact, I'm drinking a 2013 ribolla gialla from Fruscalzo this very evening.
 
Italian wines I enjoy most are probably: Trentino fizz (Ferrari) & Franciacorta (but I like most brut fizz except Prosecco), Cannonau, Amarone & Carmignano
 
I think that these days you can find most types/styles of Italian wine in the UK although Pinot Grigio and Prosecco are still the big volume drivers as has already been mentioned. Personally I tend to like wines with lots of acidity and so styles/grape varieties that I tend to drink are Etna Rosso (Nerello Mascalese/Nerello Cappuccio), Chianti Classico/Brunello di Montalcino (100% Sangiovese examples mostly), Barolo/Barbaresco (Nebbiolo).
 
Have tried for years to understand Aglianico but never seem to know how long to cellar?
Wine Forum over here (WLDG) is focusing on Italy this month and already some gems have been featured.
 
I can't really help. I drink a lot of Italian wine, but my drinking is all over the place, from Aosta in the north to Sicily in the south...it is after all the land of a thousand grape varieties.

My biggest buying conflict is always between Tuscany and Piemonte. Whenever I have enough of one, I have too little of the other.

Yet Sicily is winning equal status as I drink more of her finest wines.
 
bob parsons said:
Have tried for years to understand Aglianico but never seem to know how long to cellar?
Wine Forum over here (WLDG) is focusing on Italy this month and already some gems have been featured.
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Hi Bob
By chance I was reading the Aglianico section of Ian d'Agata's book this morning. The key message was to understand the producer, as many have been chasing full / over ripeness to soften the tannins, drop the acidity, but worryingly upping the alcohol % in the process. He's clearly a fan of avoiding taking that idea too far, and of letting the cellar do the softening instead. For someone like Mastroberardino, I plan to cellar my bottle of 2008 (Radici Taurasi - not the riserva) for a few years yet.

One producer I really like, and that he seems to as well, is Cantina del Notaio in Basilicata (near Monte Vulture I believe though I don't think they take the appellation Aglianico del Vulture, so am not sure). They also do an interesting and rather full/complex rosé. They seem to retain decent structure, but definitely fuller of fruit.
 
Bob, Aglianico can be quite different depending on where it grows. As Ian says, the Radici, especially the Riserva, requires very long age. Some of the riper Vulture wines need less time.

It may not generally need as long keeping as Sagrantino, as an example, but it's not usually one to quaff quickly. I think.
 
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