The most complete and correct how to read Italian wine labels

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Italian wine is growing in popularity and becoming a popular culture. However, not everyone can immediately understand the information on wine bottle labels. Today, with True Wine, learn how to read Italian wine labels to become a knowledgeable person.

How to read Italian wine labels

Different wines have different information. Even the way to enjoy it is somewhat different. However, here are some default information that every wine bottle needs, you can refer to it right away.

Basic attributes on Italian wine labels:

Type of wine – we will guide you in detail later in the article.
Wine production area: The area where premium wines are made.
Grade level: This is an important factor to consider for wines. You may have heard or seen the symbols DOCG, DOC or IGT. VDT is the lowest level of management in Italy. Next is the IGT label that needs to be verified coming from the specific region. In addition, the IGT is allowed to be liberal in terms of grape production and varieties. The DOC grading should follow local board standards governing acreage, grape variety, and production method. The DOCG label is bound to the strictest standards and has the highest quality in Italian wines.
Wine Name: Usually describes what grapes the bottle is blended from.
Producer Name: Wineries often go with famous grapes or regions: Castello, Tenuta, Azienda or Sangiovese.

How Italians label wine bottles

There are usually 3 ways to print labels on Italian wine bottles:

– By grape varieties as in “Montepulciano d’Abruzzo” or “Sagrantino di Montefalco”

– By region or sub-region: Such as “Chianti”

– By name: Such as “Sassicaia” (sass-ah-ki-yah)

How to read Italian wine labels by grape variety

Grapes are often named after the grape variety or other names for that grape variety. For example, “Barbera d’Alba”, this could be the ‘Barbera’ grape variety of the region ‘Alba’. While there are a few instances where names are read with synonyms: ‘Vino Nobile di Montepulciano’ in this word, ‘Vino Nobile’ is a synonym of Sangiovese. In Italy, there are about 350 different types of grapes, so the amount of knowledge about grapes and wine is huge. You can learn more through the process of learning gradually.

How to read Italian wine labels by region of production

Labels of wine bottles always have the region of production for that wine. With a bottle of wine made in Chianti with the words “Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita”. With large areas and a reputation in production, this is a tightly controlled thing. Sometimes people use the most popular grapes in the same blend to make a wine. If you want to dig deeper and understand the famous wines in the regions, please follow True Wine for immediate updates.

How to read Italian wine labels by proper appellation

You can tell this by the name of the bottle. Personal names cannot be placed next to the classification of alcohol. IGT is the most common classification in Italian wines. We can understand that a producer can mix and match many different types of grapes. Some wines have an additional production region to indicate the grapes blended in the bottle.

Some commonly used terms on Italian wine labels and how to read them:

– Poggio: Means hill or high place. Since Roman times, many vineyards across Italy have been located on mountain slopes or hills and this is probably where the term originated.

– Tenuta: Holding land or property. Usually associated with vineyard location or wine estate.

– Vigneto: Vineyard

– Castello: Similar to the word castle in France for wine estate. Many Castello in Italy are associated with an old castle. Usually associated with the region name and denotes high quality often accompanied by a slight reduction in the minimum alcohol level (with higher quality grapes).

Classico: A classical region within a specific region. This is not to say that the wine is better, but that the wine comes from a ‘classic’ winery.

Risera: A wine aged longer than the normal version of the same denomination. Age varies by face value, but is generally about a year longer.

So we have learned how to read Italian wine labels correctly. Hope readers will be smart and classy choices.

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