Italian wines are made to compliment food. A wine can enhance a meal, and the meal can enhance the flavors of the wine.
There are several terms, used on Italian wine labels, here is a brief description of the more common ones used.
Anno – The vintage of a wine. It usually refers to the grapes used in making wine, being primarily grown and harvested in a specific year. It certain situations, it can also as a guide for quality of a particular wine. A non vintage wine usually is a wine produced from a blend of wines from two or more years. Non vintage wines usually produce a consistent style of wine, regardless of the year produced.
Amabile - Level of residual sugar in a wine, that remain after a wine's fermentation process. Sweetness in a wine, is controlled by the inherent sweetness of the grape used, but is also effected by the levels of acidity, amount of tannin present, sparkling or non sparkling and alcohol levels. Grapes, harvested late in the season will also produce a sweeter wine.
Azienda - A vineyard or estate.
Bianco – Italian word which refers to white wines. Sometimes the label will say "vino bianco" which translates to white wine.
Cantina - A winery or a wine cellar where wines are kept at a consistent temperature. The ideal temperature is 50° to 55°F, but 45° and 70°F is acceptable. It is important the temperature stays constant, any change should not be drastic. Wines will damage if temperature is extremely hot. Bottles are stored on sides, to keep wine in contact with cork (to prevent drying out). Cork shrinkage, can allow air to get into the bottle and ruin a wine.
Frizzante – Refers to a slightly sparkling wine
Italian appellation system or Italian wine classifications. There are 4 catagories.
The highest classification is the DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita), which was established in 1980. At the beginning five wines were promoted to DOCG status. Today there is currently 25 wines that have been given this highest classification. These particular wines must follow strict procedures. They have to be classified as a DOC for at least five years and they must surpass all other DOC wines in quality and characteristics. D.O.C.G. wines must have a paper strip seal of guarantee.
The next classification is the DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), which was created in 1963. There are approximately 300 wines classified as DOC located throughout Italy. This particular classification designates the production area. These wines must have attributes that are significant to the area they are from. These wines have similar characteristics and guidelines as the DOCG wines.
This most recent classification is IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica). These wines are related to the particular production area. This classification was introduced in 1992 and it approximately has 120 areas in its classification. Since this is a recent classification these numbers should increase.
The last classification is VdT (Vino da Tavola or Table Wine). This classification is where most of the wines fall into. This basically means that these wines do not have any designation. The labels on these wine bottles are not permitted to list the vintage or grape variety.
In addition to these classifications all wine bottles must contain the name, producer's name and location, alcohol by percentage, and the contents in milliliters.
Naturale - A sparkling wine in which bubbles are produced naturally from fermentation.
Rosato or Rose - A type of wine which has colorization of red, but not a dark red. This pinkish color is dependent on the type of grape used to produce the wine.
Secco - Italian word for dry
Spumante - A sparkling wine.
Vino - Italian word for wine
Vigna - Italian word for vineyard
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