EXCITEMENT COMING FROM SOUTHERN ITALY
Southern Italy is the birthplace of Italian wine with a winemaking history going back more than 4000 years. The Greeks introduced many of the ancient grape varieties to these fertile sun-drenched lands, many of which (Greco) are still grown there today.
After WWII, poor economic conditions forced most growers into producing bulk wines which they sold to wealthier northern Italians and markets in France and Germany. But over the last 20 years, with the help of outside investments, winemakers have been able to shift their focus to producing high quality wines from local ancient varieties that are now recognized as some of Italy’s most impressive wines that are full of character, and successfully competing with the acclaimed wines from the north.
We all think of Southern Italy as being hot, with the warm Mediterranean climate as the driving factor in the styles of wines being produced there. But many of the most exciting wines coming out of Southern Italy are influenced more by the soil composition, vineyard location and dramatic temperature shifts from day to night rather than the hot sunny climate.
Some of the most elegant and complex wines come from the cooler, higher elevation vineyards on the rolling hills at the base of the Apennine Mountains, or on the steep volcanic slopes of Mt Etna and Mt Vulture. Those volcanoes produced miles of volcanic soils which add intense minerality, depth and structure to these unique wines.
Pair all these attributes with modern winemaking, and it’s no wonder there are so many new high-quality wines being discovered each year.