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Northern Italy
The wines of Italy elude easy categorization and definition. An ever-expanding host of DOCGs, coupled with an enormous range of DOC and IGT styles, provides a wide variety of wines culled from both indigenous and international grapes. Italy's axis runs north-south, resulting in a spectrum of climactic zones, and the country's terrain is generally rugged: the Apennine Mountains serve as the spine of Italy and the Alps bracket the northern regions. The culture of Italy is as fractured and segmented as its landscape. Despite its ancient prestige as the center of Roman civilization, modern Italy was unified as recently as 1861, and the province of Trentino-Alto Adige was not added until the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. Today, German and Slavic influences abound in the Tre Venezie, and the regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto-Adige are nearly autonomous. Lombardy, Italy's most populous and most industrialized region, stands in stark modern contrast to the Valle d'Aosta, Italy's most sparsely populated. The Valle d'Aosta includes French as an official language, and Piedmontese viticulture shows a depth of French influence. Furthermore, the northern Italy of Turin in Piedmont is wholly dissimilar from the southern Italy of Naples in Campania: the climates, the cultures, even the languages—all are distinct. <!--EndFragment--> These permutations, influences and sharp differences are reflected in the country's unique pantheon of wines.
Northwestern Italy
Piedmont (Piemonte)