With over 800 wine grape varieties, 20 uniquely designated winegrowing regions, and hundreds of years of winemaking history on the books, Italy's wine scene is a glorious adventure from grape to glass. Tuscany and Piedmont represent Italy's hot shots in terms of regional recognition and production, with the collective Tre Venezie (meaning the "three Venices") of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli rounding out the dominant Italian wine region players. Piedmont: Known for the big, burly wines of Barolo and Barbaresco, Piedmont sits high and tight in Italy's northwest corner. Home to some heavy duty red wines and the ever popular, light-hearted bubbles of Moscato, this particular Italian wine region is dominated by three key grapes: Barbera, Nebbiolo, and Dolcetto. The highly concentrated, ultra dry red wines of Barolo and Barbaresco (named for the towns their grown around) are both built on the late-ripening grape of Nebbiolo.Tuscany: Where the wine magic happens. Most folks think of Italian wine and immediately images of Tuscany come to mind.

Rolling hillsides, medieval castles, walled cities, and endless vineyards all collide to create collective images of the Tuscan wine region. Tuscany's wines are based firmly on the Sangiovese grape, bottled as Chianti, and come in various levels of quality and price. Super Tuscans represent a unique "renegade" wine that's blended with Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot (as well as other Bordeaux varietals). Alto Adige: Tucked into the base of the Italian Alps, locally dubbed the Dolomites, the wine region of Alto Adige has to be home to the world's most stunning vineyard views. White wines reign in this DOC with Pinot Grigio leading the charge. Cool, crisp nights and warm sunny days allow for impressive temperature changes between day and night and give rise to excellent acidity in the grapes. The wines of Alto Adige impress with a medium body, dry, crisp styles, and bright aromatics.From Sangiovese to Trebbiano and the wide viticultural variations that lie in between, navigating the wine shop shelves to find an Italian wine that will complement a Friday night lasagna can be a fun-filled experience - if you are armed with a little Italian wine knowledge.

While Italy has successfully planted the vast majority of the dominant international grape varietals, the country's domestic vines are what offer the true flavor characteristics that have made Italian wines world renown for ages. With literally hundreds of wines produced in Italy annually, it is no wonder that selecting Italian wines can be a bit intimidating. Deciphering Italian wine terms and names, interpreting Italian wine labels, learning Italian wine classification systems, understanding regional grape growing zones, and discerning grape varietals that do not always fall into the "familiar" category are all part of the Italian wine adventure. ​Generally speaking, Italian wines can be divided into two main categories: Table Wines and "Higher End" DOC or DOCG Italian Wines. Italy's table wines tend to be less expensive red or white wines that are produced to be consumed in the easy-going atmosphere of an Italian-style family dinner. Sometimes they are sold in larger jugs other times it's in a basic 750ml bottle, either way, they are the mainstay of an Italian dining table.

Table wines are often fruit-forward wines, some are sparkling, most are light-medium bodied and all carry an affinity for regional Italian fare. High-end Italian wines range in quality designations, from good to superior. With over 2000 native grape varieties covering varied terrain, growing in forgiving climates and all packed on one outstanding peninsula, you can imagine that the resulting wine combinations would be just as diverse as the subcultures that surround them. best type of dry white wineSuper Tuscans, Barolo, Barbaresco, Chianti Classico Riserva, and Amarone will lean towards the higher price points. top 10 italian red wineItalian wines are made for Italian food.buying wine online laws

The two go hand in hand, and like a good marriage, both are typically enhanced by the other. The wine to pair with everything from spaghetti and meatballs to backyard BBQ fare is Chianti. Or consider Dolcetto d'Alba as another solid red table wine that is made for Italian fare. If you are looking to crank on some steak or other heavy red meat, then take a turn with Piedmont's Barolo or Barbaresco wine finds. top wine producers usaBoth are built to handle high fat, high protein with full flavors, powerful tannic structure, and incredible acidity. wine by the wooden caseWhile not cheap, they are perfect for special occasions where the meat dish is presented front and center. best red wines spainPinot Grigio is Italy's most popular white wine variety and for good reason. best rose wine under �10

It highlights incredible acidity and makes for easy food pairings. Perfect for seafood, an assortment of appetizers and favorite poultry picks, Pinot Grigio is Italy's go-to white wine. With over 2000 native grape varieties covering varied terrain, growing in forgiving climates and all packed on one outstanding peninsula, you can imagine that the resulting wine combinations would be just as diverse as the subcultures that surround them.best wine for wine and cheese Whether you are looking to expand your wine horizons or just hoping to grab a good Chianti with dinner, Italian wines are a cornerstone of today's wide world of wine.best wine accessory giftIt’s official: One of the world’s best wine stores — especially if you are a fan of Italian wines — is right here in Washington. And you may have overlooked it.

A. Litteri has been selling Italian foods to Washingtonians for 90 years. The store’s current location in the old warehouse district of Northeast D.C. is just a block from the uber-hip Union Market, but it’s a time capsule to those family-owned neighborhood stores where regular customers are greeted like friends as they sample an aged Gorgonzola or order a cold-cut sandwich that would make Sinatra sing with joy. [At Florida Avenue Market, kitchen supplies and cheap eats] And there’s wine, of course. Enter A. Litteri through a door that could be easily overlooked if the wall around it were not painted with the colors of the Italian flag, and the first thing you encounter is the wine closeout section. These are cheap bottles, including a $5 pink Catawba from Indiana and several other inexpensive wines a vintage or three beyond their prime. You might find something cheap and interesting here, but turn right and head to the main wine section. There, among claustrophobic shelves reaching to the ceiling and seemingly on the verge of collapsing on you, is one amazing wine selection.

This is the domain of Ken Nankervis, who took over A. Litteri’s wine program in 2012 and gradually transformed a selection based on closeouts to one of the best — especially for Italian wines — in the city. [An Italian market near you: Go for pizza and subs, but there’s much more] Or maybe the world. Last month, A. Litteri was awarded the Leccio d’Oro prize from the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino in Tuscany as the best wine store outside Italy. The Consorzio naturally favors stores that specialize in Italian wines in general, and Tuscany’s in particular, but the award was fitting recognition of Nankervis’s efforts to build A. Litteri’s wine selection into a world-class program. “When I got here five years ago, all this space was dedicated to pinot grigio,” Nankervis told me on a recent visit to the store, as he waved at a space of shelving about the size of a hefty nightclub bouncer. “It took me two years to get rid of it all.” Today, Nankervis’s selection of about 3,000 wines from around the world is crammed into a space the size of a bomb shelter.

It includes more than 30 indigenous Italian white-wine grapes, with names such as pecorino, erbaluce, grechetto and falanghina. There are several esoteric red varieties as well. Two-thirds of his wines are Italian, but Nankervis also offers small but high-quality selections from other regions, including Spain, Portugal and South America. (The U.S. selection is perhaps a little weak.) “People come in and ask for pinot grigio or chardonnay, and I just say, why?” He champions the sheer variety available from Italy. “One of the reasons Italy has so many categorized grape varieties is the Catholic Church,” he says. “They were so good at keeping tabs on people and what they were doing, that when people find some forgotten variety they can look in the church records to see who was growing it back then.” There’s a reason the Brunello consorzio took notice. “I have 65 Brunellos from 2010 in stock, and 130 Brunellos overall,” he said. “I went to every store in Montalcino” — the quaint Tuscan hill town that is home to Brunello — “and none carry as many Brunellos as we do.”

Mike DeFrancisci, the third-generation owner of A. Litteri, credits Nankervis not only with boosting wine sales but also making the store attractive to younger consumers, including those who frequent Union Market nearby. “With the area changing, our clientele has totally changed in the last seven or eight years, and Ken has been a big part of that,” DeFrancisci said. “We never had anyone here to sell wine and do wine and food pairings. Wine sales have increased dramatically since Ken joined us.” Nankervis, 49, discovered his love of all foods Italian when working at Cafe Milano in Georgetown. He then worked several years with Winebow, an importer and distributor specializing in Italian wines, before moving to A. Litteri. While upgrading the store’s wine selection, he also rebuilt the shelves and put in new flooring. Every Saturday, he offers a tasting of 12 wines with 12 foods drawn from the store’s larder and his imagination. A consultation with Nankervis can be gruff and to the point.