Terraced vines on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria.
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Over the past decade, Italian wine has been one of the strongest-performing categories on the Liv-ex fine wine index. Driven by the reds of Piedmont and Tuscany, it is clear that the very best Italian wines have moved beyond mere enthusiasts’ collectibles and into a realm where they compete on price and status with the finest Bordeaux and Burgundy.
This reflects a wider shift in quality across the Italian industry. Not every winemaker, or indeed every terroir, is capable of greatness, but the rising tide has lifted plenty of boats. After studying Italy’s wine business for more than two decades, here are some of my favourite under-the-radar appellations, the places where quality and value for money are still in sync.
Italian wine lovers have long known the qualities of Barolo, Brunello and Amarone, but there is a less familiar Italy beyond them, and it is well worth seeking out.
Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG, Piedmont
Let’s start with a little white wine appellation in the north of Piedmont, one that has gone largely undiscovered. The vineyards lie in the Canavese, on the sandy, pebbly slopes of the Ivrea morainic amphitheatre, a vast glacial relief north of Turin that spills into the provinces of Biella and Vercelli. Erbaluce itself is a naturally high-acid white grape, and it was the first white in Piedmont to earn DOC status, back in 1967, before being promoted to DOCG in 2010. What makes it unusual is that a single grape carries three quite different wines, all under the one denomination. The dry version is taut, floral and mineral, all apple and meadow flower over a saline core.
The sparkling, made by the traditional method with at least 15 months on the lees, turns that searing acidity into something precise and persistent. And the sweet Caluso Passito, from grapes dried for months in airy lofts before a slow fermentation and long ageing, is the jewel of the three: honey, apricot, candied citrus and saffron, with the acidity to stay fresh for decades. After years of inconsistency the grape is finding real coherence across all three forms, rewarding the growers who have cut yields and given it proper attention. Names to know include Orsolani, Ferrando, Cieck and Favaro, while Roberto Crosio’s ‘Primavite’ and the bottlings of Luca Leggero are well worth seeking out.
Sloping hillside vineyards in Alta Langa DOCG
Consorzio Alta LangaAlta Langa DOCG, Piedmont
Franciacorta has been the Italian reference for premium bubbles for a while now, but there is another name waiting in the wings. Alta Langa is Piedmont’s traditional-method sparkling appellation, and it permits only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grown in the higher vineyards of the Langhe and Monferrato. Intriguingly, every wine must be vintage-dated, bottle-fermented and aged a minimum of 30 months on the lees.
There is a Riserva version too, requiring at least 36 months, usually making for a creamier, more moreish wine. Unlike Franciacorta’s more established, polished houses, Alta Langa is defined by its small growers, who make the most of the cooler temperatures of the Langhe hills and their chalky marl soils, which give the wines crisp acidity, fine texture and a savoury, mineral backbone. Enrico Serafino is the most decorated name in the appellation, while Barolo growers like Ettore Germano and houses such as Coppo are turning out increasingly serious bottles.
Custoza DOC, Veneto
On the southern shores of Lake Garda, Custoza is a historic white wine appellation, and a handful of artisan producers are reminding the world of the potential of this morainic terroir while doing their best to overcome a few preconceptions. The wine is built on blends, typically Garganega, Trebbiano, Trebbianello (a local strain of Friulano), Bianca Fernanda (a clone of Cortese) and Malvasia, grown on hills that once marked the edge of glacial retreat.
The soils are stony and mixed, giving the wines a balance of orchard fruit, herbal lift and a discreet mineral edge. Long overshadowed by nearby Soave and Lugana, Custoza is steadily improving as growers lower yields and push for more site-driven expression. Styles range from brisk and citrus-led to deeper, more textural whites with the capacity to age.
At least four wines spring to mind to showcase the zone’s rising ambition, all made to the stricter rules of the Superiore category. ‘Campo del Selese’ by Albino Piona highlights the freshness and everyday drinkability Custoza can achieve. ‘Ca’ del Magro’ by Monte del Frà is a layered, mineral-driven bottling that proves the appellation’s potential for complexity. ‘Amedeo’ by Cavalchina is a benchmark for structure and depth. Finally, Cantina Gorgo’s ‘Summa’ shows just how savoury and ageworthy these whites can be.
View of Orvieto, with the Cathedral in the centre, Umbria, Italy.
De Agostini via Getty ImagesOrvieto DOC, Umbria
The town of Orvieto has been producing wine as far back as the Etruscans, who dug cellars for storage in the surrounding soft volcanic tuff. Today at least two dozen artisan producers are making interesting whites from Grechetto and Trebbiano (locally Procanico). They are demonstrating that lower yields and gentle lees ageing can lend complexity and sophistication to these wines, the best of which show the hallmarks of terroir.
Closer inspection of the territory reveals alluvial enclaves near the river, as well as pockets of clay and loam. Palazzone’s Orvieto Classico ‘Campo del Guardiano’ is the obvious place to start. Decugnano dei Barbi, proud custodians of an Etruscan cellar, make an attractive range. And there is something romantic and circular about the story of Giulia at Argillae, who ages her Primo d’Anfora in amphorae made from clay dug on the estate, the very clay that gives the winery its name.
Morellino di Scansano DOCG, Tuscany
Down in the coastal Maremma, in the province of Grosseto, producers are proving that Sangiovese grown in maritime air can be fresher and more open-knit than its inland cousins. Known locally as Morellino, the grape must make up at least 85 per cent of the blend, with Ciliegiolo, Colorino or a little Cabernet or Merlot often filling out the rest. The warm Mediterranean climate and cooling sea breezes give wines that are fleshier, suppler and more immediately charming than the structured reds of Chianti Classico or Montalcino, whether in the fresh, early-drinking Annata style or the more serious Riserva, which must age for at least two years.
Not long ago, ordering a bottle of Morellino di Scansano was a stylistic gamble; today, since the elevation to DOCG with the 2007 vintage, there is wider agreement about what it should be, and the wines represent yet another face of Tuscan Sangiovese. Fattoria Le Pupille, the estate of Elisabetta Geppetti, often called the Ambassador of Maremma, remains the benchmark, with Roccapesta and the long-established Moris Farms close behind.
Romagna DOC Sangiovese Predappio, Emilia-Romagna
When it comes to premium Sangiovese, the conversation is justifiably focused on Tuscany. Yet in a small corner of Emilia-Romagna, a region better known for its food than its wine, Sangiovese is emerging with real distinction. Around Predappio, clay and limestone soils, threaded with the local marine-fossil sandstone known as spungone, seem to draw out a fresh, fragrant style of Sangiovese, with more restraint than you might find in, say, Montalcino. The leading ambassador of this territory is Chiara Condello, whose work has inspired neighbouring producers such as Noelia Ricci, Drei Donà and Fattoria Nicolucci. Together they have embraced lower yields (roughly 5,000 to 8,000 kg per hectare), careful site selection and neutral oak, letting the land speak clearly. Predappio is now an authorised subzone of the Romagna DOC, and these estates have turned it from a regional curiosity into an important expression of Italy’s most famous grape.
Auburn leaves on the vines surrounding the town of Montefalco in Umbria.
Consorzio Vini MontefalcoMontefalco DOC, Umbria
If you are not familiar with Sagrantino, you should be, though as Montefalco’s flagship grape it is hardly under the radar. Its sibling, the town’s ‘Rosso’, is another matter. For years the Rosso was treated as the baby brother of the heavyweight Sagrantino di Montefalco, a way of softening that grape’s formidable tannin by blending it with Sangiovese, and sometimes a little Merlot, into something more accessible. The category is maturing, though, and some producers now treat the Rosso as a serious wine in its own right, one that rewards patience. I am in two minds about this.
Preserving the heritage of Sagrantino matters, and setting the Rosso up to do battle with Tuscan Sangiovese may not be the wisest long-term strategy. At its best, though, a Sangiovese-led blend with a touch of Sagrantino offers a darker, more savoury dimension than Tuscany tends to, and the finest examples are now genuinely serious wines. For the Rosso itself, look to Antonelli San Marco, Tabarrini and the modernising Arnaldo Caprai.
Piceno DOC, Le Marche
The red wines of the Piceno DOC, made in the hills behind the Adriatic town of Ascoli Piceno, are seriously overlooked. This is the Marche’s largest red denomination, stretching across the eastern half of the region, and it is built on a blend of Montepulciano and Sangiovese, the regulations allowing Montepulciano to run from around 35 to 85 per cent and Sangiovese up to half. Montepulciano brings the colour, the dark-fruited flesh and the structure, while Sangiovese lends sour-cherry lift and a savoury, herbal edge; in the right hands the two strike a delicious balance between brooding depth and freshness, helped by clay soils and a warm, dry Adriatic climate.
There is a more tightly drawn Rosso Piceno Superiore as well, restricted to a handful of communes in the hills of the Ascoli Piceno province, and it tends to be the more serious, ageworthy expression. The Marche’s wine chatter usually centres around the white Verdicchio grape, which has its own highly regarded appellations, and so these reds are often overlooked. I find them reliable and now that barrique is being replaced with neutral wood and even concrete or amphora, there’s some excellent value being made. Names such as Saladini Pilastri, Velenosi and Cocci Grifoni are leading the way.
The terraced volcanic slopes of the island of Pantelleria.
DonnafugataPantelleria Passito DOC, Sicily
I wish more producers were investing in this style of sweet wine, but the market simply is not there, and people do not know what they are missing. Pantelleria, the volcanic island closer to Tunisia than to Sicily, is home to one of Italy’s most distinctive sweet wines. It is made from Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) grown on ancient alberello-trained vines, sunk into hollows to shield them from the relentless wind, a practice now recognised by UNESCO.
Grapes are hand-harvested, dried in the sun and then vinified into passito wines that balance lavish aromatics with a saline backbone. The tension comes from the island’s volcanic soils and extreme climate: scorching days, cooling sea breezes and porous lava rock that forces the vines deep.
Two bottlings illustrate the island’s viticultural identity. Ben Ryé by Donnafugata is a benchmark wine that marries lush apricot and fig richness with laser-bright acidity, while Bukkuram by Marco De Bartoli is a traditionalist’s wine that channels the raw intensity of Pantelleria into something almost mythic. Passito di Pantelleria is a fusion of sun-dried opulence and volcanic restraint, a sweet wine that is both historic and unmistakably Mediterranean.
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