The Italian Trade Commision : History

With over three thousand years of wine-making history and more than two thousand different varieties of grapes - Italy has an almost infinite range of excellent wines to offer. Every sheltered valley of the Italian peninsula and of its islands - each with a specific terroir and microclimate - hosts a vineyard: there are more than one million under cultivation.

Italy's vocation to excellent wine making dates back to the ancient times, when Greeks used to call its southern part Oenotria, the land of wine. Many influences followed one another: Phoenicians, Greeks, Latin, Etruscan, Spaniards and while all of them were important for Italian wine, a big contribution was made especially by the Romans.

Besides improving the existing techniques of wine-making, they were the first to classify grapes and describe the climate most appropriate for the cultivation of each variety. In order to increase yields, they introduced props and trellises, and were the first to store wines in tightly closed wooden barrels, recognizing the importance of aging wines to improve their aroma and taste. They also contributed to the spread of organized cultivation of vineyards, mass manufacture of wine and storage of wine in barrels and bottles; they were also the first to use glass jars and corks.

Recognizing the potential of the Falernian slopes near Naples, Romans produced here the famous wine named Falernum often mentioned in Roman literature. Even in Pompei there was a flourishing wine-making industry specializing in a fine robust red wine that was exported in the provinces of the Roman empire: Pompeian amphoras, in fact, were found in different areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Romans loved their wine, drinking it with every meal – a tradition that is still well and alive in today's Italian lifestyle. With time methods of vinification and ageing processes had both greatly improved and wine names such as Chianti, Barolo and Marsala have become known in Europe and overseas. A century ago, Italy's wines were already regarded as among the finest of their kind: predominantly Piedmontese and Tuscan reds from the Nebbiolo and Sangiovese vine varieties, but also white wines.