History of Italian Wine

Italian wine is very often described as one of the best wines in the world. From the cheapest bottle to the most expensive, every mouthful is one of enjoyment and you will find it a struggle to find a bottle of Italian wine that is not up to scratch. There are over two thousand different wine labels produced in Italy from twenty regions and 96 provinces.

For many generations, it has been known for wine to play a very important part of the society. From the poorest, to the richest, all Italian's loved a glass of wine, even that long ago. The first wine started as people juicing the grapes to drink the juice out of them. Obviously, as the juice sat there, waiting to be drunk, it fermented and became alcoholic and therefore you have your glass of wine. From that very first idea of wine, it has evolved into a massive industry and has become what it is today.

Italy is known as one of the oldest wine regions in the world and was believed to have started around 4000-3000BC with the Romans. Back then, the alcohol was incredibly strong, with none of the additives and ingredients that we use today. To make this wine more palatable, the Romans would dilute it with water and even add other ingredients which to use may seem a bit odd. Honey was used quite often as were other herbs and spices, and even chalk was used to reduce the bitterness of the taste! The white wine was also more prized and still is known as the better of the three - Red, Rose and White, even today.

In the nineteenth Century, the old Italian wine makers learned better processes to make the wine taste better and more palatable and even learned how to bottle the wine. Before very long, it was shipped all over Europe and other parts of the world and thus started the reputation it has developed for being the nicest regions of wine making. It was also learned, even before the nineteenth Century, that keeping the wine in very tightly closed containers improved the taste and quality of the wine.

In 1963 the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (the DOC), similar to the French AOC took over control of the production and labeling of Italian wine to ensure production quality. Unlike the AOC, the DOC has aging requirements. The current top three producing regions are Veneto, Piedmont and Tuscany, which many of you will recognize.

From the very first bottle of wine until now, the quality of Italian wine has never really been disagreed with and even though the country is now split in to different regions of wine making, the country is still very much renowned for making the best bottle of wine in the world! This reputation, I'm sure will remain for many years to come!