Wine Map of Italy
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna's wines might be considered northern Italy 's odd lots, different on the whole from the neighbor’s, often facile in style, but nearly always refreshingly individualistic. As the hyphenated name reveals, the region consists of two distinct sectors which coincide more or less at the capital of Bologna .
To the west lies Emilia with its prosperous small cities strung like jewels along the ancient Emilian Way - Modena , Reggio, Parma , Fidenza, Fiorenzuola, as far as Piacenza . The premier wine here is Lambrusco, in frothy shades of purple to pink, made from grapes grown on high trellised vines mainly in the flatlands south of the Po . Lambrusco is produced at the rate of about 50 million bottles a year in the four DOC zones around Modena and Reggio, though few consumers abroad have tasted these wines in their authentic style. Even in Emilia's hills, along the Apennine range to the south, the wines are often "frizzante," made from Malvasia, Trebbiano and Ortrugo into easy, fun-loving whites, or from Barbera and Bonarda into zesty reds of more flavor intensity than Lambrusco. East of Bologna lies Romagna , decidedly diverse from Emilia but equally prolific. The plains of the Po basin between Ferrara and Ravenna are noted for fruit, vegetables and ultra-high-yield vines, most of which are sources of blending wines. The hills south of Imola, Faenza , Forlì, Cesena and Rimini are known for DOC wines, primarily from the native Albana, Sangiovese and Trebbiano.
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Wine Regions of Italy
Click on a region to view a description.
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Patrik Schmidt
Sommelier |
