Inspiring Italian wines

Terre di Vita Organic Zibibbo, Sicily, Italy 2023 (£9.99, Waitrose) Thanks to Dry January, February is the beginning of the new wine-drinking year for many of us (about nine million adults take part in the initiative according to Alcohol Change, the charity behind it). In the spirit of the fresh start, then, this week strikes me as being the perfect time to give tired drinking habits leftover from last year a bit of a makeover – and no wine country in the world is better equipped to do that than Italy. There are more than 500 indigenous grape varieties spread around the Italian peninsula and islands, with vineyards, and distinctive wine cultures, in all of the country’s 20 administrative regions. For a sense of the sheer range and contrast you could begin at either end of an A to Z: a lush, darkly bittersweet heavyweight Amarone red made from dried grapes in Valpolicella in the northeast such as M&S Collection Amarone Montresor 2021 (£24, M&S) and an unashamedly floral, pretty, gently peachy-grapey dry white from a Sicilian member of the muscat family, zibibbo.

Cascina Alberta Barbera d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy 2022 (£17.50, hhandc.co.uk) Having started in Valpolicella near Verona in the Veneto, the next logical step on a snaking February tour of Italian reds would be on the other side of northern Italy in Piedmont. The Nebbiolo variety, ingredient of the region’s most famous red, Barolo, is the red star here; but my choice this time is the less widely heralded, if in fact rather more widely planted, barbera, as exemplified in the completely delightful example from Cascina Alberta; with its characteristically enlivening streak of tomato/red plum acidity and a squirt of tangy red cherry it’s a prime example of Italian red wine’s wonderful food-matching capabilities (I would have it with any kind of wintry pasta and ragu). Sangiovese, the dominant red variety across Central Italy, especially Tuscany, has similar tangy food-friendliness, not least in Tesco’s true-to-type, savoury Finest Chianti Classico Riserva 2019 (£10.50). And the last red stop is back in Sicily, for the outstanding value offered by the suavely, richly, darkly plummy Extra Special Sicilian Reserve Red 2020 (£7.47, Asda).

Extra Special Fiano, Sicily, Italy 2023 (£6.75, Asda) Sicily, which accounts for about 18% of all Italian wine, is the first step on an Italian vini bianchi trail, in the shape of a slightly smoky, ripely stone-fruited example of fiano. Another island, Sardinia, meanwhile is one of the best sources of vermentino, a white variety that creates characterful, fresh whites in dry, warm conditions across the Med: Cantina Castiadas Notteri Vermentino di Sardegna DOC 2022 (£21.95, dorsetwine.co.uk) is alive with orange citrus, fennel and fluent acidity. Frascati, made principally from malvasia a few miles south of Rome, is one of those classic old-style trattoria wines that has been much-improved in recent years in the hands of producers such as Castel de Paolis, whose refined Frascati Superiore 2022 (£20.65, thefinewinecompany.co.uk) blends understated tropical fruit and pithy citrus with freshening seabreezy tones. Last stop is in far northern Alto Adige, and a reappraisal of the much-maligned pinot grigio, with the discreetly charming, fresh pear, camomile and soft, serpentine acidity of Piccozza Alto Pinot Grigio 2023 (£12, Tesco).