Mainland Italy Vs Sicily

That Italian classic…

Question: What do you get if you take a country that stretches out over a thousand kilometres in length; that touches the Alps in the north and comes close to Africa in the south; that cultivates vines in every corner of the country; that has hundreds of indigenous grape varieties, some of which only grow in tiny areas; that doesn’t follow any single set of rules for labelling its wines and that is one of the two biggest producers of wine in the world with a vinous history stretching back thousands of years?

Answer: A country that proves quite a challenge for the budding wine enthusiast to master!

From ‘Colli’ to ‘Poggio’; from ‘Cascina’ to ‘Cantina’ and from ‘IGT’ to ‘DOC’ to ‘DOCG’, it can all get a bit confusing. And that’s before we’ve familiarised ourselves with Falanghina, Fiano and Friulano or Nebbiolo, Negroamaro and Nero d’Avola … And what do the terms ‘Superiore’, ‘Classico’ and ‘Riserva’ refer to, again?

So let’s stick to some basic information to begin with …

Yes, together with France, Italy is the biggest producer of wine in the world. It makes wines from hundreds of different indigenous varieties (as well as international varieties) and it cultivates vines in every corner of the country, from the elegant reds of Piemonte in the North-west to the mineral whites of Soave in the North-east, through the famous Chiantis, Super Tuscans and Montepulcianos of Central Italy to the bold, fruity reds of the south and the famous Marsala wines of Sicily.

Italy has around 750,000 hectares under vine and sometimes produces up to 50 million hectolitres of wine per year. Back in the early 1990s, the area under vine was almost double this amount, the reduction being mainly due to big EU incentives for the grubbing up of vines to reduce the ‘wine lake’ or great wine surplus that existed.

A street in Puglia, Italy

Sicily is, along with Puglia and Veneto, one of Italy’s biggest producing wine regions. It has around 115, 000 hectares under vine and produces somewhere in the region of 6 million hectolitres of wine per year.

Italy is said to have in excess of 500 native vine varieties, with some sources suggesting this figure to be in the thousands. At least 175 of these varieties are in regular use, with Sangiovese being the most widely planted. Sicily is home to over 70 native vine varieties; somewhat surprisingly for an island so close to northern Africa, it produces more white wine than red and its most widely planted grape is Catarratto Bianco. This grape, together with the other Sicilian natives Inzolia and Grillo are used in the production of the island’s famous Marsala wines, which are nowadays more widely used for cooking than for drinking. Catarratto Bianco’s prevalence on the island of Sicily makes it Italy’s most widely planted white grape. Montepulciano is Italy’s next most prevalent grape whilst Sicily’s flagship black grape, Nero d’Avola is the second most widely planted grape on the island.

Both the country of Italy as a whole, and the island of Sicily, are home to a great range of differing climates. It is a country of predominantly hillside viticulture where elevation and aspect are factors which greatly affect temperatures and sunshine hours. Proximity to the coast is another factor that affects temperatures. Italy’s most northerly region, Alto Adige, is truly alpine with the Austrian Tyrol as its immediate neighbour, whilst areas on Sicily’s Mount Etna could also be described as alpine, with some grapes grown up to 1,000 metres above sea level. At the same time, Puglia (the heel of mainland Italy’s boot) has a hot Mediterranean climate whilst the smaller Sicilian island of Pantelleria, which lies very close to Tunisia and produces one of Italy’s finest dessert wines, could be described as subtropical.

So, on to some of these confusing label terms…

Italian wine classification consists of four tiers. The most basic tier of Italian wine is VdT (Vino da Tavola). This is basic table wine with no particular geographical designation.

As the drive towards producing more quality wines has taken place over the last 30 or so years, basic Vino da Tavola now only accounts for roughly a quarter of Italian output. On the island of Sicily however, where a lot of its wine is still destined for blending elsewhere, well over three-quarters of its vineyards are still dedicated to bulk wine production.

Above ‘VdT’ are IGT wines (Indicazione di Geografica Tipica) which account for just over a third of Italian output and are generally of intermediate quality and from a large but specified geographical area. Some wines labelled IGT however are actually of exceptional quality, but the producer has disregarded the sometimes very stringent winemaking rules (often relating to permitted grape varieties) of their particular area, and therefore the IGT classification is the highest one their wines can be granted. Wines made using international varieties are often labelled IGT. A famous example of this are ‘Super Tuscan’ wines where the high price tag will seem to be at odds with the classification.

DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) is the next and second highest tier. There are 329 DOCs in total throughout Italy. To qualify for the DOC classification, wines need to adhere to the rules regarding permitted grape varieties and must meet a certain quality standard. Sicily is home to 23 DOCs, including the island-wide appellation Sicilia DOC which was created in 2012 following a push from some of the island’s big producers to promote Sicilia IGT to the higher classification. This promotion did take place without any stricter rules or regulations being implemented and Sicilia IGT was then replaced with IGT Terre Siciliane.

The top tier of Italian classification is DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita). As the name suggests, wines in this classification ‘guarantee’ quality through very rigorous regulations relating to growing and ageing and through high-quality standards. There are a total of 73 DOCGs in Italy. Only one of these, Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, is on the island of Sicily. Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG can be found in the southeast corner of the island and produces wines made from a blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato.

Finally, a few more label terms to decipher… ‘Superiore’ can be slightly vague but generally suggests a higher level of quality than the standard; ‘Classico’ generally refers to the original and more prestigious locale within a larger specified area such as ‘Chianti Classico’ and ‘Riserva’ generally means that a wine has been aged for longer than the standard or minimum requirement.

So, now that you’ve mastered the wines of Italy, it’s time to taste some and judge for yourself!