In another thread, a board participant expressed frustration in trying to make sense of the Italian wine world. In order not to hijack the thread and to get a more comprehensive answer to the question, a thread devoted to this subject. How did you do it? Thanks.
Practice, practice, practice 
I never found it to be all that more challenging then France or the US. What do you see as the challenging part?
I started in Tuscany…I drank only Chianti for a month, only Chianti Classico for the month after that, then blind-tasted them side-by-side the month after that…then moved onto Rosso di Montalcino, then Brunello, then Super Tuscans then strait Merlot…and so on. When I felt like I had a grip on Tuscany then I moved onto Piedmont.
This. Plus food. I didn’t get Italian wines until I paired them properly; probably the only region I can say that for, yet it helps so much. I’ll drink a lot of wine alone but Italian wine I always drink with Italian food. Drinking a Tassi rosso di Montalcino right now waiting for the oven to heat to make pizzas.
I’ve been to Italy many times. Once you start to associate wines with their regions as the result of personal experiences also tied to those regions, the wines and their characteristics become etched into your brain.
Interesting question, because I don’t see approaching Italian wines any differently than wines from any other part of the world. I guess I approach all wine regionally, for context and typicity. It would seem that for many people, their entry point is Tuscany, for various reasons, like Sangiovese’s easy appeal and the general allure of Tuscany. Then one might attack Piedmont and its charms. You could spend a lifetime appreciating Piedmont and its intricacies, much like Burgundy. Then one might reach out, maybe to the delicious wines of Sicily. You could veer off and pursue one grape for a while, like Sagrantino, or geek out on higher elevation whites from Alto Adige. There are many paths leading to great wine in Italy.
I don’t know that any single person can know Italian wine.
The deeper you look, the more you start to realize that all of the villages [and maybe even some of the crossroads, in the middle of nowhere] have their own vinifera cultivar entered at VIVC, with about 25 or 50 different synonyms, and then each particular village has its own cuisine tradition, which was perfected over the centuries so as to best match the local food with the local vinifera cultivar.
You could spend your entire life trying to learn about local [and micro-local] Italian village [and sub-village] cultivar/cuisine pairings, and barely even scratch the surface of what there is to know.
But if you’re a glutton for punishment…
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Start by clicking on Italian-looking names at Foundation Plant Services.
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Then see whether you have the stamina to scroll through the 812 cultivars at the USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) - in theory, that database is sortable by country of origin, although I can’t seem to get it to work in my browser.
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Then when you’re ready for your post-doc in arcane Vitis trivia, swallow hard and try to tackle VIVC itself.
By way of comparison, the List of Grape Varieties at Wikipedia has only about 426 rows in it, although I have to say that the quality of vinifera trivia at Wikipedia has improved dramatically in the last four or five years, and I would always check Wikipedia to see whether it might have some special insight to offer on a particular Italian cultivar.
True enough Nathan, but the question was only how one made sense of it; not how to “know” it. I assume, from the parallel dialogue, this refers to the fact that Italian wines can seem somewhat unapproachable early on in a wine hobby, in part due to the reason you reference, the breadth. For my part I don’t know that I “know” all that much about it, but I’ve found many I enjoy. I should probably get some of the better books on the subject and read up though.
I’m reminded how Rick Steves said (and I think Anthony Bourdain has said something similar) that to truly be a great traveler you have to manage Italy. Nothing else is so difficult yet rewarding. Or something to that effect…
Echoing the comments for region by region & having it with food, ideally regional food. In general I’d also say that quite liking the refreshment of acidity can be a big help.
I don’t think you can make sense of it.
This is Italy we’re talking about, man.
If it were sensible, then it would be Switzerland or Japan or maybe North Korea.
Italian vinifera cultivar trivia is one of those subjects where an honest person quickly realizes that the more he learns, the more he realizes what he doesn’t know, and, worse yet, how much he will never know.
If you could learn, say, ten Italian cultivars, inside & out, then you’d be like five or six standard deviations above average.
- Aglianico
- Arneis
- Brunello [is it or is it not its own cultivar? that’s a nukular debate just waiting to ignite]
- Moscato bianco
- Nebbiolo
- Prosecco
- Riesling Italico [aka Welschriesling]
- Sagrantino
- Sangiovese
That gets me to about eight & a half cultivars of which I have some strong memories.
In theory, I’ve tasted grapes like “Grechetto” and “Malvasia”, because they were blended into Paolo Bea Santa Chiara, but I have no firm memory of them on their own.
And a bunch of other weird stuff from the likes of Bea & Mastroberardino, which I couldn’t hope to identify blind.
[BTW, before he died, Mastroberardino donated a lot of vines to Foundation Plant Services & the GRIN.]
If you’ve got a ton of money & extra time on your hands, then you could try to eat & drink your way through all the villages of Italy, but you might want to watch a movie called “Leaving Las Vegas” before you set out on that journey.
Italy is a fairly small, compact country and pretty “linear” as far as where vines are planted, you simply need to connect the dots. I find the names actually easier to pronounce than the French ones.
I would suggest that Ian d’Agata is that one person.
His Encyclopedia of Italian Varieties is essential to understanding those wines.
Tom
Put aside the study. I learned (what little) I know about Italian wine by traveling in Italy. It’s really quite easy.
I started in Rome, and wandered around Tuscany. Gave me a good visual/geographical basis with Chianti, Brunello and Montepuliciano Nobile/Rossi. Southern Italy for Aglianico, Sicily for the wines of Etna. Admittedly I learned about Barolo/Barbaresco/Barbera before visiting Piedmont, but the visit sure accelerated things and introduced me to Arneis.
I’ve always found Italy fun and easy to travel in - really set up for visitors, easy to enjoy food, friendly culture, great history, art, architecture …
I drink a lot, surf the web and read books, also gleaning information from people who know more than I do. Vinous is obviously a good resource. Nothing beats going there, which I have yet to do.
I didn´t !
I stopped buying Italian wines 20 years ago … and sold all my bottles to fans of these …
When I started my wine journey 30 years ago I also bought quite a lot reputed Italian wines (1982/85 Barolo, Barbaresco … Tuscany table wines et al … so no cheap stuff …) - but I rarely opened any … and when I did it left us unmoved …
I usually find the Italian acidity always disturbing and uncomfortable (and in Piemont combined with high tannins almost undrinkable when young) … and I almost never tasted an Italian wine when I did not have a “better” French" wine in mind …
It´s simply a matter of my personal taste, so no need to convince me … ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
On the other hand I´ve regularily tasted hundreds of Italian wines in our monthly wine group - so I´m very well informed, but nothing changed my mind (not even Sassicaia 1985 which I tasted several times … yes, an outstanding wine, but I don´t have to have it).
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BTW: yes, old Barolo/Barbaresco at age 30-40+ can really be good …
How on earth could one country be more important than another. It’s totally personal and subjective.
One drink at a time.
Seriously, I read, study, do tastings and seminars, travel to various wine regions and meet producers. For me, its not about becoming an expert in ALL things Italian, its about a general exposure just like it is for wines from other countries and even within the US. Yes, there are many varietals AVAs and regions I will never know, but to have a basic understanding is enough for me.
Agreed, that’s pretentious codswallop. I’m a huge fan of Italy, but could never support such a stupid statement.