Ep. 1030 Map 27 Italy Overview | Jumbo Shrimp Maps

This episode is brought to you by the Italian wine Academy, teaching WSET levels one, two, and three in English right here in verona, the home of the Italian wine podcast. Want to become part of the international wine sector? Need a worldwide recognized certification. Don't know where to start. You can easily complete our courses while you enjoy the fun and excitement of verona. Make your vacation good value for money by adding a wine certificate to your souvenirs. Visit our website at italian wine academy dot org for more information and sign up today to start your personal adventure in Global Wine Education. Welcome to jumbo shrimp wine study maps. We have specially created this free content for all our listeners who are studying for wine exams. This has been a journey of development since Stevie Kim discovered Rosie Baker's hand drawn maps on Instagram through two years of work by our in house editorial and graphics team, and now the maps are available to purchase in beta form while they undergo the final briefing and editing by our expert advisory board. It's a three layered project because we know everyone learns differently. We now offer the complete box set of thirty nine maps. This series of podcasts with the maps narrated by our crack team of wine educators. And finally, the study guide book, which will be published later this year. Our map project is in no way a substitute for the material set out by other educational or organizations, but we hope all the wine students out there will find our map project a new, exciting, and useful tool for learning. For more information and to buy the maps, please visit our website at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to the jumbo shrimp wine study maps podcast. In this episode, we will be looking at the Italy map. Italian. The most beautiful and most important wine country in the world. Okay. We are a little biased, but it is the world's largest producer of wine, producing wine in each of each twenty regions, and making wine from the largest number of different grapes. Nearly four hundred and counting. Let us narrow our focus, however, to the important wine grapes, wine regions, and wine laws that define Italy. It is a long narrow country, stretching nearly eight hundred miles, twelve hundred kilometers, from the Southern Alps into the Mediterranean Sea nearly to the tip of Africa. Most of this long, thin country is never more than seventy five miles from the water, which acts as a moderating influence of climate throughout the year. Most of the country is hilly or mountainous. And with only the plains of the Po River Valley through Veneto and the small peninsula of puglia being truly flat and fertile, the mountain ranges of the Alps and dolomites that define the northern border offer a protective barrier from the coldest of continental weather. Although vineyards in these elevated northern areas experience a cool alpine climate. Another important topographical factor is the Abine mountain range, which runs down the center of the peninsula and provides its own climatic influence. Unlike other wine regions of the world, where the oceanfront areas are the coolest, and Italy is generally cooler the more inland you go as you rise in elevation. Geologically, Italy is part of the African tectonic plate, which is slowly moving northward into Europe, creating the alps and dolomites. The formation of the peninsula within the Mediterranean Basin by volcanoes and floods and upheavals over millions of years has created a country that is the most diverse collection of soils in the world. These factors, along with thousands of years of cultivating grape vines into the Viticulture we know today, has made Italy the world leader in types and overall amounts of wine. We will explore more thoroughly each of these regions and their unique geographic and climatic conditions, their terawatts, in this and subsequent lessons. But how do we sort and codify and understand all these wines? This has been a question the Italian that they're working on since before there was an Italy. The Romans and even the etruscans and Greeks before them, studied and improved Viticulture for hundreds of years. After the fall of Rome and the dark ages, the European Renaissance, beginning in Tuscany, sought to recapture that wine knowledge. And in seventeen sixteen, the Tus and Grand Duke issued an edict demarcating four wine regions This first instance of this kind of wine law, by the late nineteenth century, special wines like Kianti and Bernelo were already being recognized for creating their own guidelines for grapes and production to ensure a consistent and quality product. But the current wine laws that we know today are only enacted in the nineteen sixties, model on the French system for defining wines from specific regions and the Viticulture and techniques to make them. Meaning, gray fields, planting density, allowed grapes, aging, even minimum alcohol levels, or sweet wine sugar levels. These are now the PTO laws, protected denomination of origin, or in Italian, that are the European Union standards for winemaking in all member countries. Italy started with its own DOC laws, the Nomazione deota Gineca and Torlotta, in nineteen sixty three, as a way of defining and regulating wines from a fixed geographical boundary from specified grape varieties and production methods. Nearly all of these were created for wines that had historical significance or were commonly made in their regions. Smaller zones around municipalities, towns, farms, or even single vineyards. A stricter set of rules were also established for more specific and usually more important or elevated wines. The docG, dona monazione di origina Crontellata, a Gerantita, sends additional guidelines for the wines that apply for this status after at least ten years of meeting DOC requirements. These wines are subjected to yearly tasting panels to ensure they meet the expectations for that type of wine, not that they are necessarily good or bad. That's the guaranteed or get empty department. The entire DOC system is this way of offering some level of quality control and meeting the expectations of what a particular wine should taste like in the glass. It's tipicity. But this being Italy, there are often a few too many options within the rules to guarantee absolute quality. Or in some cases, rules too stringent to allow winemakers a freedom of expression, four DOCG and many of DOC wines, an additional safeguard is the band of paper with a unique serial number placed on every bottle. This helps to reduce counterfeiting of the most expensive and popular wines, but also keeps production within the limits set by the EOC. If a winery has the vineyards to say make ten thousand bottles of a certain wine, it will receive no more than ten thousand ribbons for those bottles. There are two additional levels of wine quality within the PTO pyramid. The base level is for wines labeled as Virot Sabala in Italy, which is Tablewein, or simply Vino. Like other countries of the EU, These wines are simply labeled as red wine of Italy or white wine of Spain, and only recently were allowed to list grape or vintage. Most of this is bulk wine produced without having to adhere to stricter regulations like those of DOC wines. However, under the early DOC rules, if a winemaker chose to produce a very good, a particular wine, but outside of the confines of the DOC Digitalare, its rules, say from an unapproved grape or with different aging, He had no choice but to label this special wine as simply Vito de Tavala. Many such producers in Tuscany were experimenting with international varietals or blends or single grape bottlings, and their expensive tuscan table wines became known by the nineteen seventies as Supertuscans. A solution was finally established in nineteen ninety two as a fourth category, IgT, or Indekatione Deapika. Now in the Kasteling Geographic Parteta for the whole EU, IGP. IGT laws define stricter rules for Viticulture and VINification than just Vino, including the European standard of at least eighty five percent for a wine labeled with a grape variety and grown in that designated area. So much of Italy's affordable quality wine, and still many of its most prestigious, expensive bottles fall into this IGG category. There are a few additional label terms that are important to know for Italian wines, reserva, and Cipidiores, as established by individual DOCs, can be used when a wine meets higher alcohol and or longer aging requirements. Class ago, on a label refers to the historic center of production for a certain wine region, like Kianti Classico or Valpolicello Classico, where the original zone has expanded to the point where the newly included wines are not usually of the same caliber as the classic. There are three hundred thirty two DOCs and seventy seven BOCGs as a biz podcast, and that number can and will change. Many of these are of quite small production, and the laws of each consortzio, group of wineries, usually include many different wines and styles. So the head of the DOC Federation once laughingly told me that no one person could ever know them all. But let's explore the most important of these and more as we tour the wine regions of Italy roughly from north to south. Italian wine podcast, part of the momo jumbo shrimp family. The north of Italy is geographically defined by its mountains and valleys. The Alps of the northern border shelter from much of the coldest winter weather and hold heat from the warm summer southern winds, while mountain valleys such as Valdosta, Northern Lombardi, and alto adige are definitely cool alpine. Most of the area has a moderate continental climate, cool to cold wet winters, warm to hot and often humid summers, with spring frost and summer hail real concerns in many vineyards. Besides the mountains, large lakes and long rivers are moderating influences in vineyard areas. And these combinations make for both high volumes of production and many high quality wines as well. A couple examples of Italian wines and how they're labeled. You will see wines named for the towns of their production, like Barolo or Swave. You must know that these are made from the grapes, Neviolo, and Garganaga, respectively. In the case of Barolo, the law requires one hundred percent Neviolo. Whereas, for Swave, only seventy percent gardena, and other local traditional grapes are allowed. If you see a wine label like Barabetta Dosti, d o c g, that wine is the grape barbera, from d or the apostrophe, the town of hasti. This wine would have to be eighty five percent on the labeled grape, but some DOCs have higher percentage limits. The famous Pemonte native white grape muscato is made most often into sparkling sweet wines using the stainless steel tank fermentation method. Invented by Italian Martinotti, but further patented by Frenchman and Charmont. So that's the most common name. Here, the docG allows for fully sparkling, that's spumante in Italian, as aosta docG. Or lightly sparkling, frazante, as Muscado Dosti DOCG. A Pemontezi white wine, like gavi DOCG, which is a lovely pale light body wine, is made from one hundred percent of the native grape Cortese. But if the wine comes from the smaller area directly around the town of Gave, you'll often see it labeled as Gave to Gave. Don't worry. This will start to make a little more sense. Let's look at two other famous wines made from the same grape. Borolo and Barbarresco docGs are two wines both made from one hundred percent Naviolo going around those two neighboring towns in the rolling hills of Southern Pemonte. But subtle differences in soil, elevation, temperature variations have led to the laws for each being written differently to make for similar, but unique ones. Because Naviolo grape around barolo tend to have more tannins and ripen later from the higher altitude of its hills Brola wines are required to age one year longer than the slightly lighter wines of Babresco. This additional aging in wood barrels adds even more tannin to the wine, so giving it a longer aging potential. However, Barbaresco wines can be more approachable at a younger age, and less aggressive on the palate, while still giving the unique pleasure of a nebbiolo wine. This is just one example of how studying and understanding these differences can help you make decisions on which wines you buy and drink. Some wines like these reward a little study to know how to spot potentially better quality. Swave and Lambrusco might be the best examples of a wine that lost its reputation because it was so successful. The town of Swave sits in the rolling foothills of Northern central Benito. It's famous wine, a full bodied fruit, and even hits of nuts became quite popular in export markets like the United States. Producers wanted to make and sell more wine. So the local consortium expanded the area of the DOC, to include easy to farm, flat fertile fields south of the hillsides. Hey, we know that flat and fertile is not the soil for quality wine. So the bulk of what we was so the bulk of what was produced became simple, flabby, uninteresting, and damaged the reputation of the Swave brand. So in two thousand two, was created the new Swave, SIPidio de OCG. New stricter rules for higher alcohol from riper grapes, harvested at much lower yields to create a more complex wine, and hopefully repair the reputation of these important wines. Likewise, Lambrusco became a popular sweet presenting red wine in the United States, especially, driven by one major corporate brand, and that came to define the entire category in the minds of consumers for decades. Only now, our consumer is starting to discover the diversity of the ten plus Lambruschke grapes that make wines from dry to sweet, from pale white to deepest purple, two wines attempting to avoid the same fate of success leading to overproduction, our pinot grigio and Persecco. The former, a generally light bodied, easy to drink white, destined for export markets, the latter of fruity sparkling wine made mostly from the native Clara grape, again, in the Martinotti tank method. There are excellent complex examples of both wines from the traditional home vineyards like the high alpine vineyards of Alto adeje, and the rolling hills of Frioli for Pinerisio, or the impossibly steep vineyards of Valdo Bayadne for Versseco. But most of the production comes from the plains of Veneto and Frioli and Trento, and are beginning to define Italian white wine to the world as late simple and cheap. The DOCs of both wines have made recent moves to lower production levels, increased quality, and hopefully, a piece consumer demand while maintaining better reputations. As we move into Central Italy, We first start with the most planted grape in its benchmark wine, sangiovese and Chianti. Perhaps no wine or its grape better defines Italy in the minds of travelers quite like Chianti and sangiovese as we enter Central Italy starting in Emilio de mania, down through Tuscany, into umbria, Marque, Abruzzo, to the east, lazio, to the west, we find the heart of a Mediterranean climate, mild springs, warm dry summers, moderate winters with only real snowfall occurring on the highest peaks of the EPanines. Only only nobody who lacks a coastline. But even in these central hills, the adriatic and terranian seas are a moderating influence. This is the climate that Sanjay Vese loans. To fully ripen, it needs a long, warm, sunny, growing season without being too hot or having too much rain. Pour loose well sloped soils to allow for good drainage. With these factors in place, a good wine maker concerns SanjayVese into wines ranging from light, dry, and tart, to big, firm, rich, and age worthy. This is often the range you see. Starting from Kianti to Kianti Classico to Glasgow Reserve to Bernillo de Montecino, a wine that gained its fame in the late nineteenth century for not being a traditional blend like Kianti, but made from an isolated clone of San Gervais. The Bernillo grape from Montalgino. But small vineyards of French varietals already existed at Tuscany at this time. And as winemakers continued to experiment through the growing success of Super Tuscans in the nineteen seventies, a new DOC was created in an area of Tuscany deemed perfect for these varietals. The Bollarty DOC sits on the warmer, sunnier coast of Tuscany, away from the Cooling County Hills, and here, the Cabernays, Merlo, Sarrah, are the main grapes, and the wines are some of the most expensive Italy. But we cannot leave Central Italy without tasting the other Mediterranean red grape, Montebolciano. Although it thrives up and down the Adriatic coast, the best wines come from Abruzzo. Some producers limit yields and use wood aging to make bigger wines, but the hallmark of Montipulciano is easy drinking lush red fruit, like warm Mediterranean sunshine with glass. And as we travel further down the peninsula, the climate indeed gets warmer turning into hot Mediterranean along the coast and in much of the interior. Here, the summer sun bakes a little hotter, the sea breezes blow a little harder, and hardy red grapes dominate the vineyards. But the tall Appenines do contain some cool sheltered valleys ideal for whites, especially in Compania, and Mount Aetna insist they create its own unique desert climate. Aliannequin is one of the stars here, a dark red grape that makes big, dry, perfumed wines that age for years. For easier drinking reds, there is spicy earthy negaromaro and juicy tangy primativo. Now known to be the same grape as American's infidel, both from puglia, or fruity, tasty, nudodhabla, the main red grape of Sicily. Most of these, along with the white Colorado grape of Sicily, were historically made in bulk and into a lake of cheap wine, but more recent investments and more modern winemaking have created many bottles of good quality and great value, not only in the southern boot, but all the way to the rugged corners of Sicily and Sardinia. Maybe the most interesting investments recently, have been made in the vineyards on the high elevation slopes of Mount Aetna. Small parcels of old gnarled vines of red grapes, Narela Mascaleza, and Narello Capucchio, and the unique white grape caricante are turning out wines of elegance and subtlety and complexity. Farming between the ancient and sometimes recent level flows and up to one thousand meters above sea level on an active volcano, that's what we call heroic wine making. There are so many more wines and regions like this throughout Italy. So please join me in exploring them further with closer looks into the maps covering the northwest, northeast, central, and south of Italy. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast brought to you by Italian wine Academy, offering WSET levels one, two, and three in English. Visit our website at Italianwine Academy dot org for more information. And sign up today to start your personal adventure in Global Wine Education right here in the heart of Verona. 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