The wine making regions of Italy were first established around 800 years after the birth of Christ, so they have been stomping grapes almost since day one (of the Gregorian calendar.) The Italians definitely know what they are doing, but didn't really start producing wine in large quantities until around the 1870's.
Just like a lot of the other regions, they had their challenges. After World War I, Italy struggled with a lot of political unrest and that forced hundreds of thousands of Italians to immigrate in search of a better life. The scattering of these aficionados sent prompted the government to set up Co-ops in order to continue to protect the wine production in certain rural areas. An overproduction of wine was the result of this and the overall quality in the country started to degrade.
In 1960, with the introduction of the first quality wine produced in a specific, designed region of the country, Italy hoped to shed the low-quality connotation that they had garnered in the manner described above—the damage had been done, however, and it was an uphill battle for the next 40 years.
Jump forward to the 1980's where New World countries were taking the world by storm. As it turned out, many of the Italians had left Italy and they were then producing wine in Australia, California, and other New World regions.
In came the introduction of the European Union and the new classifications, Italy managed to gain the throne and is now the second largest producer of wine in the world.
So to sum it up, Italy has the following:
- They have over 3000 years of heritage
- Advanced, modern wine making skills that are hard to rival.
- A global presence in the wine community.
When it comes to wine, Italy is simply amazing. To pay tribute to the wonders of this country, throughout the next few blogs we're going to travel around Italy, taking in the sights, seeing the sounds, and perhaps we'll even have a drink or two while we're at it.
