All the famous Italian wines are easily available in any good cellar or restaurant across the world. However, there are some lesser known Italian wines which may not find their way into the menu cards of most fine dining restaurants. Traditionally, they have not been marked under the âBestâ category yet they are to defy all the preconceived notions about them. Here are ten lesser known Italian wines worth your taste.
10. Pigato from Liguria
Unlike other whites from Italy, Pigato is as complex and as sophisticated as French white wines. Pigato is prepared in the coastal region of Liguria. If aged perfectly for a number of years, it is quite interesting in its richness and fullness. It proves that Italian whites, especially those from North Italy are as complex as French whites.
9. Falanghina
Falanghina is yet another Italian white wine which defies the notion of Italian whites not being complex. Falanghina comes from Southern Italy, a region conventionally famous for its red wines than whites. It is very full-bodied, well-structured and complex. If one wants to appreciate the complexities of this wine, one should relish it at a temperature just a bit lower than room temperature.
8. Cirò
Cirò is perhaps the oldest wines in the world. Local legend has it that the grape was used to make a wine in a Greek colony, Cirò Marina. It was a drink used to toast to the gods by the champions of early Olympics in Greece. Cirò is a soft red wine that can go well with spicy or red meat dishes.
7. Sagranyino di Montefalco
Sagranyino, the grape, is only grown in the Umbria region of Italy. It is the most variety with the most tannin found anywhere in the world. However, the finest wine producers tame the tannins, thus making the wine an elegant one. It also prolongs the aging potential of the wine for more than a decade. One should consider oneself lucky to find and taste this elegant, unique and tannin wine.
6. Cesanese from Lazio
Lazio has for long been associated with cheap table wines. Most of the best varieties of grapes in Lazio do not go out of the region and the best of Lazio wines are mostly found only within the region. Cesanese is rarely seen outside Lazio. So to relish this wine which embodies an incredible smooth character, one has to visit Lazio.
5. Moscatos from the Aeolian Islands
The problem with sweet dessert wines is that they are either of very high quality and priced high or the wines are very cheap and not drinkable at all. But not many outside the wine connoisseur community know that the Moscatos wines from Aeolian Islands balance both the extremes.
4. Barbera dâ Alba
Barbera dâ Alba is grown in Piedmont which encompasses the Langhe hills around the town of Alba. The wine is particularly known for its deep color and the high levels of acidity which is very not very usual for a red grape grown in warm climate. Barbera dâ Alba has a very interesting and an unique combination of both the new world and the old world, in context to flavor and structure . Barbera dâ Alba is often mistaken with another wine, Barbera dâAsti.
3. Rosato (Rose)
Rose wines for long have been infamous of tasting like watermelon. Those days are gone and rose wines are now more complex. Conventionally, Italy is not famous for roses. However, the Rosatos made in Sicily from the Nera dâAvola grape is all set to defy all the traditional wisdom. It is nothing less than any of the French roses that are seen in the market.
2. Chianti
Chianti is from the Tuscany region and perhaps is the most famous wine ever to come from the region. It is also the best known Italian wine in North America. However Chianti is also one of the most criticized wines, since it is associated with some of the shabby 20th century Italian American cuisine. This is the prime reason which hurts the reputation of Chianti. However a bottle of Chianti Classico, made from Sangiovese grape would silence all the critics.
1. Lambrusco
Lambrusco is possibly the most underrated of all the Italian wines. This sparkling red wine had for long borne a bad reputation in North America. It was considered a fizzy fruit punch and not meant for the people with discerning choice. However, nowadays Lambruscos are refreshing and sophisticated and this sparkling red wine is easily available .
