Geography
Italy and its present day population of 57 million people consists
of 20 regions, divided into 94 provinces spread over 116,000
square miles. A land which is essentially mountainous, the Apennines
run through the center of the country and extended from the
Northern Alps and dolomites all the way to Sicily. For wine purposes, Italy
can be sub-divided into six distinct production areas: Northwest;
Northeast; Central Tyrrhenian; Central Adriatic; Southern Italy,
the Islands.
Vines & Vineyards
More than 1,000 different varieties of vines exist in Italy,
over 400 of which are registered and approved. Among the world's
wine drinkers, Italy ranks second in per capita consumption
and first in production. Wine and Italy are nearly synonymous
but it was not until after the Second World War that Italian wines
became an international item of commerce. Till then, wine was
mostly a locally produced staple of life.
History
Wine has been an essential element of Italian life for over 3,000
years, beginning with the Phoenicians who by 1,250 B.C. had supplanted
the Egyptians and established themselves as the dominant traders
and navigators throughout the Eastern Mediterranean . Their
contributions to western civilization were many. Giving us the
alphabet is certainly their most important gift, but the amphorae
bottle is also a Phoenician invention. In order to preserve
wine for transport they put it into a large glass unstopped
with rags which helped to establish wine as an integral part
of their commerce. By the time their civilization had been absorbed
by the Greeks, amphorae bottled wine had come to Italy.
At the same time the Greeks were settling southern Italy, The
Etruscans were moving in to the Po Valley, in the 5th century
B.C. they were driven out of the north by the invading Gauls
and simultaneously out of the south by the Samites. The Roman
influence in Italy prevailed from that point on until the 5th
century A.D. The Greeks had given Italy the name Enotria, literally,
'the land of wine'. The grapes were mostly brought from Asia
Minor and flourished in the hot Mediterranean climate. As the
Roman Empire expanded, so did the growing of grapes and the
making of wine, spreading as far north as England.
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