Essential Winemakers of Italy
What makes certain Italian wines so special? From Piedmont's hills to the Friuli-Slovenia border and right down to the arid southern tip of Sicily, we often think of those wild Italian grapes that are hardly grown anywhere else. Italy's best wines are, more often than not, the result of an indigenous grape expressing the character of a certain place. We can look to Nebbiolo showing off its delicate side in Valtellina, or Carricante's clever hide-and-seek aromas when sourced from the vineyards on Mount Etna.
The most essential winemakers of Italy, listed below, seem to intuitively translate this sense of place while maintaining a national identity of la dolce vita, as even the most complex, "serious" wines never seem to lose sight of pleasure.
What is This List?
The Essential Winemakers of Italy list is my ode to this amazing wine nation. Each representative belongs on this list for what they bring to the table. Once listed, I commit to re-evaluating their wines regularly. However, I am also determined to keeping this list manageable — between 50 to 60 producers at a time.
From time to time, I will designate some wineries as "Essential Emeritus" and remove them from this page to make room for new additions. These winery profiles stay live and accessible through related links, and I maintain my commitment to following their work. The Essential Winemakers of Italy represent the most exciting wineries at this moment, which is where the curation of this list comes into play.
Not all regions are represented at this time. The playing field is too level to add anyone of note from Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Basilicata and Puglia. Molise and Calabria's footprint on wine has been too small as well, but we continue to keep our eyes open for additional wineries.
How to Use the List
Each winery listed has a profile page that includes a map, details on the estate, wines to seek out, insights, photos and other related content. They are intended as compendiums to aid you in your wine shopping and collecting, and they are an exclusive benefit for subscribers to Opening a Bottle.
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Piedmont
Italy's greatest wine region consistently evokes a mood of the Old World: savory, earthy, dark and brooding. Piedmont would dominate this list, if only we allowed it. While the temptation here is to glorify its Nebbiolo, let's not sleep on the wines from indigenous grapes like Timorasso, Dolcetto, Barbera and Pelaverga.
Veneto
The heart of the ancient Venetian Republic could be called Italy's most stylistically diverse wine region, with inky and rich Amarone and frothy and light Prosecco anchoring opposite ends of the spectrum. But when the day is done, it is Soave and its volcanic white wines that might steal your heart.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
If Italy's northeastern corner reminds you of France in the glass, there is good reason: French varieties have been planted here for so long, they're considered traditional. But its the indigenous grapes, and the influences shared with neighboring Slovenia, that make this one of Italy's most exciting places for wine.
Tuscany
No other region in Italy is more dominated by a single grape variety than Toscana. But while its reliance on Sangiovese may have once seemed boring, recent efforts in vineyard mapping and genetic studies have revealed that the grape is actually a polyglot, capable of telling many beautiful — and diverse — stories from this fabled landscape.
