The Ins and Outs of Vino Italiano

Wine is to Italians what BudLight is to NASCAR fans. No, it's not a sure way to slowly grow a waistline in a perpetual stupor (although there's plenty of that). It's an intrinsic part of the personality, the culture, a constant motif that plays sonorously behind every move and action of life. Many factors have brought vino, culture in tow, to the states-from regional restaurants like Il Buco and I Trulli, to shows like Molto Mario on Food Network, to a wealth of reform-minded vintners in the country gunning for the export market.

As well and good as that may be, it still does nothing to ease an American audience, weaned on Bordeaux and Napa, into a hot new market. Even worse, not to say anything disparaging about the passions of the hot-blooded, but wine is a very sensitive issue, given more to stalwart extolling of one's virtues while denouncing the rest of the lot than the easy, free-love experimentalism that dominates the West Coast market.

Italy, like France, was synthesized out of many smaller nations and fiefdoms in the not too distant past, and the wine market very much resembles such a spattering of city-states. In practical terms, it can be divided into northern and southern regions by extending a boundary east and west from the center at Rome. Wines in the north have been the leaders in the export race, while production in the south, though massive, has generally emphasized huge quantities of cheap table wine. The whole of the south accounts for only about 10 percent of the total given the state-monitored stamp of regional quality, denominazione di controllata (DOC).

This should not be taken as an insult, as many of the table wines in this region are fabulous, and some, like the white Greco di Tufo and the red Taurasi, are downright startling. However, because of their slim presence and relative anonymity on the market, these should usually be sought out at higher-end or specialty retailers with the help of some knowledgeable staff.

In the north, reprising the warring factional cutthroats that so inspired Machiavelli, are dozens of small regions, each with their own, finely wrought libations. Chief of these is Tuscany, seat of the country's most famous wine, Chianti, and its refined brother, Brunello di Montalcino, both crafted from Sangiovese, the grape that is Italy's answer to Cabernet Sauvignon. Also produced here is a class of wines collectively known as "Super Tuscans," made from foreign varietals like Cabernet and Syrah, that have been notable for both their quality and lofty price.

To the north, sprawling between Turin and Genoa, lies the greatest challenge to the Tuscan juggernaut, Piedmont. It is here that those of the noble Nebbiolo grape, Barolo and Barbaresco, respectively known as the king and queen of Italian wine, hold court, beside their princely cousins, such as the white Cortese di Gavi and the light red Barbera d'Asti.

Other leading principalities include Veneto near Venice, garrisoned with the red Valpolocella, with its variations Amarone and Recioto, and the white Soave; Lombardy, cradled around Milan, producing the sparkling Franciacorta; Emilia-Romagna, with the white bubbly Lambrusco; and Umbria,, with the red Torgiano Rosso and the white Orvieto.

New York has been blessed with a huge movement of fine importers, who, smelling a ripe market, have moved in with great quantities of these wines. For specialized service, check out Vino at 121 E. 27th St. (between Park & Lexington Ave.) or Italian Wine Merchants, 108 E. 16th St. (at Irving Place).