Italian Wine Labels

In Italy, wine with food is a way of life. Italians have been making wine for thousands of years, and know a thing or two about enjoying it. There's nothing quite like a loud Italian dinner with great food and friends, where everyone is slightly more animated than usual from the four glasses (each) of Chianti.

There are also great practical advantages to Italian wine, mostly due to the popularity and abundance of good Italian restaurants in the United States. What else but Italian wine for your Italian dinner?

Wine quality in Italy has improved dramatically over the last century or so, when Italians decided to export competitive fine wine. In the past, the focus was on making a whole lot of wine from whatever was available so the entire family can get drunk and argue loudly at dinner, so the wine was relatively unremarkable (with exceptions, of course). Modern Chianti is much bolder and zestier than old Chianti (the blend proportions have changed: it used to be nearly a third white wine, and now it is almost entirely red Sangiovese), because of the modern focus on really getting quality from the grapes instead of just making a whole lot of wine.

Compared to France and Germany, which make sense after a while, deciphering an Italian label is black magic. Italian wines may be labelled in several different ways, instead of the region-first rule that dominates most of Europe.

First, like the rest of Europe, Italian wines may be labelled by the region they come from. For example, Chianti and Soave are named by the region.

The wines may also be labelled by the grape variety. Barbera and Pinot Grigio are grape varieties, and you may see wine labelled as such. Sometimes you will also see a region designation appended, like d'Asti or di Montalcino.

The wine may also be labelled by a traditional name, which tells you absolutely nothing. You may see these labelled as "Est! Est! Est!" or "Vino Nobile" because that's what people have been calling it for hundreds of years. There are often great stories about how these names came to be, but every winemaker tells a completely different version, and likely none of them are true.

You can also find wines with trademarked names, like "Rubesco" or "Summus." These also mean absolutely nothing except that some marketing weenie thought it sounded good. Unlike the traditionally-named wines, they haven't been around as long (and thus aren't as cool) and can be used by only one producer.

On top of all this, there are the regulatory designations, which can apply to any of the labelling types above. The regulatory designation is often the only mark of sanity on the label, but even that doesn't help much. The possible designations are:


Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG)

This is the top designation; it means that the wine was made using appropriately traditional methods and appropriately traditional grapes (for weak definitions of traditional; current Chianti is quite unlike the Chianti of a hundred years ago). DOCG wines must also pass a taste test by the government regulators.

Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)

This means that the wine is basically what it claims to be, assuming you can decipher the label. The wine must be produced in the usual manner using the usual grapes and methods that are appropriate to the wine and region.

Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT)

This is the designation for quality wine that isn't DOC or DOCG, usually because of the use of nontraditional methods or grapes. A region is named somewhere.

Vino da Tavola

This is the lowest grade table wine, with no interesting designations whatsoever.

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