History of Italian Wine

History of Italian Wine

 In ancient times our country was given the name of Oenotria tell us , that is, the land of wine . Every Italian in the moment when it becomes citizen of Oenotria and it is natural friend of the wine , that does not correspond to a defect but an art. History of Italian viticulture dates back to around 1000 BC when the Greeks conquered the Mediterranean : during their campaigns of colonization introduced the cultivation of the vine in our country , first in Sicily and Calabria, where were built the first Greek commercial basis , and then spread gradually to the north. In the seventh century BC in fact Etruscan show that in today's Tuscany wine was produced and traded . When in the third century B.C. Hannibal waged war against Rome throughout southern Italy was covered in viti.All ' era of the Roman Empire , the cultivation of the vine spread in northern Italy and the territories north of the Alps . With the barbarian invasions , viticulture had a rapid decline and flourished again many years later in the thirteenth century and especially during the Renaissance . After this period very prosperous for the world of wine (it was in this era that were founded in fact famous vineyards exist even today ) , the viticulture in the sixteenth century, experienced a meltdown again in conjunction with the decline of the Medici family when ' Italy fell under the dominance of Spanish - Habsburg Empire. The political upheavals of the nineteenth century it allowed the rebirth but only until the second half of the 800 : it is at this time that the back of the phylloxera disaster . Compounding this already dramatic situation came also the two world wars that led to an actual destruction of the vineyards. Since then, the Italian wine gave the first signs of recovery only around 1970. Over the past thirty years, the Italian wine and viticulture have undergone more radical changes than in the three previous centuries. Disappeared crops promiscuous they saw the vines grown along with olive and fruit trees and also in the basement many things have changed , particularly important was the introduction of temperature control during fermentation , which opened new horizons to quality Italian wines. The modernization of viticulture and wine-making has led to a qualitative improvement in unexpected party from Tuscany in the late '60s and spread first in Friuli and Piedmont and then touch all regions of the peninsula.
Currently Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an average annual production of 60 million hectoliters. By contrast, domestic consumption is diminuzione.Quantitativamente speaking, the majority of Italian wine comes from Tuscany , Piedmont, Puglia, Sicily , Emilia Romagna and Veneto regions in which they have intensive production . It is common table wine whose destiny is buying from major European companies such as wines from cutting or removal from the market as surplus and then distillation in accordance with the EU directives. Alongside this situation, however, is a must to point out that in recent years , and by some wine houses , there is a counter that sees extend the surfaces of the territories for the cultivation of the precious vines and consequently an increase in the production of wines designation of origin at the expense of the rampant production of table wines. Since 1980, the DOC wines were up 19 % and is increased as the amount of wine sold in bottles at the expense of the one sold directly into the barrels or carboys .
To better understand the world of Italian wine , it seems to me must take a brief look at the current legal situation regarding the guarantees provided to the consumer as to the origin and quality of the wines and what these rules will lead towards instead of entrepreneurs vitivinicoli.La law that currently governs the classification of Italian wines is the Law No. 164 of 10 February 1992 which introduced substantial innovations compared to the old order in materia.L ' system of law to promote the "total quality" through the mechanism of classification which is split at the base of the pyramid " table wine " and then move to " wine IGT " abbreviated with IGT , to finally arrive at QWPSR which are divided into " wines with denomination of origin" or DOC wines, and " wines with denomination of controlled and guaranteed origin " or DOCG wines This law guarantees the quality of the product and protect consumer interest through various points are the enhancement of the geographical name , the most stringent manufacturing disciplines and increasing with the rise in the level of the wine within the pyramid , the mandatory controls chemical and organoleptic for QWPSR and for wines that are exported . Overall, the law is very strict and the penalties have been made more stringent . This is why some manufacturers unwilling or unable to comply with the legislation downgrading their DOC wines I.G.T. but almost always of high quality wines , sometimes the best of noble DOC or D.O.C.G. They have this name because they are produced outside of the areas of origin.