Unrivaled Diversity of Italian Reds

6-Bottle Sampler

by Tom Wolf

If France, as the source of some of the world’s best-known and most beloved grapes, represents comfort and familiarity, Italy, with its impressive dedication to vinous variety, offers nearly endless opportunities for thrilling discovery. On top of the red cultivars you likely know, such as Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, and Montepulciano—all three of which feature in this sampler—hundreds more are planted throughout the country, each adapted to Italy’s incredibly rich diversity of terroirs, from the mountains to the sea, and many of them worthy of a regular spot in your ice bucket or on your dinner table.
Take, for instance, Corte Gardoni’s joyous and elegant bottling of Corvina, a grape that thrives on the shores of Lake Garda, where the Alps descend into an unexpectedly Mediterranean climate. Corvina has long yielded graceful and highly regarded rossi, to the point where a century ago bottles featuring this northern Italian grape regularly appeared on the best wine lists alongside red Burgundy.
At the other end of the country, in Sicily, Nero d’Avola has experienced a surge in interest and esteem lately, inspiring vignaioli to produce bottlings of 100% Nero d’Avola, as Riofavara does with its Spaccaforno. At its best, this grape yields a dark but lively, spicy, and brambly rosso.
We could have made dozens of different versions of this sampler, but these six single-variety wines offer an excellent place to start if you are open to Italy’s vast range of charming and terroir-driven reds from all corners of the country.