The primary pieces of information that Italian wines want to communicate to you, their celebrated consumer, are the wine's: Name, Growing Region (There are 37 designated wine growing regions in Italy), Grape Type (Italy has over 2,000!), Estate and Producer Names, Alcohol Content, Vintage Year and Classification (Vdt, IGT, DOC, DOCG - government appellation designations related to volume, location and quality). If you can grab these key pieces of information off of an Italian wine label then you are good to go.
How to Read an Italian Wine Label
For those that don't speak Italian, wine labels from Italy can be daunting, until you know a few essential label clues. Check out the label codes below.
Label Image Courtesy of Frescobaldi
Frescobaldi
