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NOVEMBER 2012 -
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MAGAZINE -
59
taly is home to some
of the oldest wine-producing
regions in the world and is
the world’s second largest wine
producer behind France. Italian wine
is exported around the world and is
also extremely popular in Italy: Italians
rank fifth on the world wine consump-
tion list by volume with 42 liters per
capita consumption. Grapes are
grown in almost every region of the
country and there are more than one
million vineyards under cultivation.
Etruscans and Greek settlers pro-
duced wine in Italy before the Ro-
mans started their own vineyards in
the 2nd century BC. Roman grape-
growing and winemaking was prolific
and well-organized, pioneering large-
scale production and storage tech-
niques like barrel-making and bottling.
History
Although vines had been cultivated
from the wild Vitis vinifera grape for
millennia, it wasn’t until the Greek col-
onization that wine-making flourished.
Viticulture was introduced into Sicily
and southern Italy by the Myce-
naean Greeks, and was well
established when the exten-
sive Greek colonization
transpired around 800
BC. It was during the
Roman defeat of
the Carthaginians
(acknowledged masters of wine-
making) in the 2nd century BC that
Italian wine production began to
further flourish. Large-
scale, slave-run
plantations sprang
up in many coastal areas
and spread to such an extent
that, in AD 92, Emperor Domitian
was forced to destroy a great number
of vineyards in order to free up fertile
land for food production.
During this time, viticulture outside of
Italy was prohibited under Roman
law. Exports to the provinces were
reciprocated in exchange for more
slaves, especially from Gaul where
trade was intense, according to Pliny,
due to the inhabitants being besotted
with Italian wine, drinking it unmixed
and without restraint. It was customary
to mix wine with a good proportion
of water which may otherwise have
been unpalatable, making wine drink-
ing a fundamental part of early Italian
life.
As the laws on provincial viticulture
were relaxed, vast vineyards began to
flourish in the rest of Europe, espe-
cially Gaul (present day France) and
Hispania. This coincided with the
cultivation of new vines, like biturica
(ancestor of the Cabernets). These
vineyards became hugely successful,
to the point that Italy ultimately be-
came an import centre for provincial
wines.
Depending on the vintage, modern
Italy is the world’s largest or second
largest wine producer. In 2005,
I