Italy, this most ancient of viticultures, introduced to the vine by Phoenicians & Greeks and consolidated by the Romans two thousand years ago, continues to play a key global role, accounting for 20% of global production and being the largest exporter of wine.

A sea change in attitude & quality has taken place in the past 20 years, forced partly by an almost 20% drop in domestic consumption, the emergence of new world competition and a string of good to great vintages between 1995 & 2001. Italy has an almost peerless terroir: the Alps to the north & Apennine spine providing sites, aspect, altitude & ancient soils while the Tyrennhian, Mediterranean & Adriatic Seas ensure a constant flux of refreshing air currents.

Crucially Italy is home to a plethora of indigenous grape varieties, of which approx 200 are commercially significant. Nowhere else does the Nebbiolo, Barbera, Corvina, Sangiovese, Aglianico, Primitivo grow as well as at home, maintaining a real point of difference & inimitable personality. In the northwest we focus on Italy's finest wines: the Barolo & Barbaresco of Piedmont, as produced by the likes of Luciano Sandrone, Cigliuti, Giuseppe Mascarello & Giacomo Conterno. Roberto Sarotto refreshes the palate with his Gavi di Gavi.

Moving east, in the lea of the Lessini Moutains of the Veneto are found the bright Bianco di Custoza & Bardolino wines of Monte del Fra, while Corte Sant'Alda's Mithas Valpolicella provides a lesson in fine-tuned Amarone; with Giuseppe Quintarelli remaining the old Master. En-route to Friuli we touch on Paolo Trevisiol's Prosecco di Valdobbiadene. Tucked up in Italy's northeast lies Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, bordering Slovenia are the gravel river beds responsiblke for Lis Neris's benchmark Pinot Grigios, while further inland on steeper slopes & 'ponca' marl soils of the Colli Orientali del Friuli are found the fuller wines of Canus, Meroi & Miani.

Tuscany is home to Sangiovese & its various clones: in purezza, the Chianti zone between Florence & Siena is home to traditional producers such as Grati & Villa di Geggiano, as well as the more modern Gagliole & Monte Bernardi. Southeast of Siena the warmer gravel & clay Montepulciano soils give a richer, finer Sangiovese style, as per that of Massimo Romeo, courtesy of the Prugnolo Gentile clone. While the 450 metre high Montalcino hill crowns the majestic Brunello, as perfected by San Giuseppe, Costanti & Lisini.

Across the Appenines to the east, in the Marche, are the chablis-esque Verdicchio of La Monacesca & fleshy reds of Le Terrazze. From the south, De Conciliis offer a contemporary interpretation of the Campanian Fiano white grape, Fatalone deliver a Puglian Primitivo rich in character as well as grace, while Spagnoletti's Uva di Troia is a perfumed beauty