The Wines of Southern Italy: Colloquial Wines, #1

By Liam Carroll

Want to know more about Italian wines?
Want to impress your friends and family with quirky facts?
Want to discover new, exciting, passionate, innovative and authentic wine makers, from vegan to organic?

With its blazing sunshine, fascinating winemaking history, innumerable native grape varieties and diverse, often volcanic soils, Southern Italy is currently one of the most exciting parts of the world for wine. The Ancient Greeks, called it Oenotria, meaning 'the land of wine'. Winners of the ancient Olympic Games were often offered wine from Krimisa, the Greek name for Cirò in Calabria.

The collection Colloquial Wines proposes an intimate visit of the greatest wine-making countries in a convivial, accessible and practical pocket book. 

Contains:

History

How wine is made

How to get the most out of wine

Storage and serving temperatures

Food pairing

The regions of Southern Italy

12 wines (red, white, rosé, orange, sparkling, fortified)and a pinch of quirkiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dux Publishing
• Release date: Apr 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781911538165

Book preview

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The Wines of Southern Italy

Vini Del Sud Italia

First published 2019

© 2019 Dux Publishing.

All rights reserved. Apart from any permitted use under UK copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information, storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited.

The name "Colloquial wines" is © and owned by Dux Publishing and cannot be used without the explicit written consent from the publisher.

Every effort has been made to fulfil requirements concerning copyright material. The author and publisher will be glad to rectify any ommissions at the earliest opportunity.

Dux Publishing is an imprint of Dux Enterprises Limited.

Contact at: [e-mail]

ISBN: 978-1-911538-15-8

The Wines of Southern Italy

Introduction

Introduction

With its blazing sunshine, fascinating winemaking history, innumerable native grape varieties and diverse, often volcanic soils, Southern Italy is currently one of the most exciting parts of the world for wine.

To cut a very long story short, wine from the region was fantastic a couple of millennia ago, but then much of it became mediocre. Thankfully, it is becoming fantastic again. Or at least some of it is, hence the need for this guidebook.

This book is for anyone interested in the wines of southern Italy. It is not aimed at experts, although we hope they will enjoy it too. Instead, it is written for people who appreciate a good glass of wine, may or may not know a bit about the subject, and are looking to enhance their enjoyment of the excellent wines produced in this ever more popular part of Europe.

With its convenient pocket size, this guidebook is an ideal travelling companion for anyone visiting Southern Italy. As well as letting you know what wines to look out for a while you are there, it should prove invaluable in the region’s restaurants, enabling you to decipher wine lists and pick perfect matches for the food you order. And it suggests several fascinating, atmospheric vineyards across the region for you to visit if you get the chance.

But The Wines of Southern Italy is also designed with the armchair traveller in mind. If you want inspiration about interesting Southern Italian wines to try, you will find it here. If you already have some bottles from the region in your cellar or wine rack, this book will help you get the best out of them. And if you are looking for gift ideas or wondering about suitable accompaniments for meals you are planning to cook, this is a good place to look.

Above all, this book seeks to bring the wines of Southern Italy to life. Reading it will give you a vivid sense of terroir, that all-important but elusive concept which captures the essence of a wine’s place of origin. And we like a wine with a good story. Knowing that a particular variety was used to toast the victorious athletes in the ancient Olympic games or comes from grapes grown up 25-metre poplar trees adds something to the experience of drinking them.

Finally, we hope to continue our work by exploring the rest of Italy, all of Europe and even the world. There has never been a better time to enjoy wine, and this first book should be the start of a new and exciting collection to help you discover ancient traditions and modern processes, old vineyards and new winemakers.

Introduction

History

History

The Ancient Greeks, who started colonising Southern Italy in the 8th century BC, called it Oenotria, meaning ‘the land of wine’. The vines they brought with them flourished in the fertile volcanic soils of Campania and Sicily, yielding wines that were the toast of the Classical world. We know for instance that the winners of the ancient Olympic Games were often offered wine from Krimisa, the Greek name for Cirò in Calabria.

When the Romans succeeded the Greeks as the great Mediterranean power, they prohibited the production of wine outside Italy for a couple of centuries, cementing the pre-eminence of wines from the country. By the time anyone had even thought of planting a vine in Burgundy or the Loire Valley, Southern Italian wines had been dominating the picture for a thousand years.

Pompeii, just south of Naples, was a particularly important centre of wine-growing and trading. Its destruction by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD led to a wine shortage that caused such distress in Rome that fields of wheat were ripped out and replaced with vines. This led to food shortages so severe that in 92AD, Emperor Domitian banned the planting of new vineyards near Rome and ordered half the vineyards in Roman provinces to be destroyed. Some historians believe that this was the catalyst for the development of the infant wine industries of France, Spain and Germany.

The most highly prized wine in the Roman empire was Falernian, grown on the slopes of Mount Massico, about 50km north of Naples. According to legend, the god Bacchus left the mountain covered in vines after being delighted with the hospitality he received when he paid an incognito visit to a poor local farmer called Falernus. The vintage of 121BC was particularly legendary. Pliny describes it being served to Emperor Caligula when it was 160 years old.

The wine, along with counterfeit versions, was still going strong when Pompeii was destroyed. A price list on the wall of a preserved tavern in the city reads:

For one [bronze coin] you can drink wine.

For two you can drink the best.

For four