steinhardlive: Italian wine

Italy is home to some of the oldest wine producing regions in the world. Italy, closely followed by France, is the world's largest wine producer by volume. Grapes are grown in almost every region of the country and there are more than one million vineyards under cultivation.

Etruscans and Greek stellers produced wine in Italy before the Romans started their own vineyards in the 2nd century B.C.

Although wines had been cultivated from the wild Vitis vinifera grape for millennia, it wasn't until the Greek colonization that wine making flourished.

In 1963, the first official Italian system of classification of wines was launched.

Understanding of Italian wine becomes clearer with understanding of the differences between each region, cuisines.Most noticeable regions are:

* Trentino Alto Adige

* Friuli Venezia Giulia

* Veneto

* Toscana

* Calabria

Most common Italy's grape varieties are: