Choosing Italian Wine, it helps if you can read the Label - Italian Wine and Vineyard Terms

Learning about Italian Wines and reading and understanding Italian Wine Labels has a language of its own.  Here are the many terms we have picked up along the way.

Abboccato or Amabile: Means the wine will be medium sweet

Amaro: Very dry or bitter, describes the herbal liqueyr concoctions like Amaro Averna

Annata: Vintage (year the grapes were grown) not to be confused with Anatta the Budhist term for "not-self" or the illusion of "self"

Appoggiare: in Italian means "to support"; many top hillside vineyards in Tuscany are planted on terraced vineyards. Large terraces are called poggione.

Asciutto: Bone dry, some Proseccospresent this.

Azienda Agricola: Estate grown - the grapes are from the vineyard, not sourced.

Azienda Vinicola: A producer who buys grapes to make their wine, opposite of the above.

Azienda Vitivinicola: A combination of the two, making wine of grapes of the estate vines and sourcing grapes from other growers. Very often the best of both worlds.

Bianco: A white wine. in local tratorrias an order of Vino Bianco Locale per favore will usually be a very  good wine.

Botte: Cask

Bottiglia: Bottle

Bricco/Bric: A vineyard on a high, steep ridge thought to be of higher quality. Challenging but worth the effort.

Casa Vinicola: Wine House,  Wine firm

Cascina – Farmhouse or Estate

Chiaretto: A rose wine, vino rosado from the town of Bardolino on the shores of Lake Garda, like Corvino.

Classico: Originating from an old, historic place of origin such as the center of a DOC region; therefore a typical, well-respected wine

• Classico (classic): is reserved for wines produced in the region where a particular type of wine has been produced "traditionally". For the Chianti Classico, this "traditional region" is defined by a decree from July 10, 1932.
• Riserva (reserve): may be used only for wines that have been aged at least two years longer than normal for a particular type of wine.

Collio: Collio "literally means 'hill' - is all about hillside vineyards."

Conca: a depression or shallow in a hillside

DOC: Vino a denominazione di origine controllata (DOC), translated as controlled denomination of origin.

Wines grown in DOC regions must meet strict standards pertaining to production areas, grape varietals grown, grape yield per acre, alcohol content, and other specific growing, aging, and fermenting requirements.

There are over 300 DOCs in Italy.

DOCG: Vino a denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG), translated as controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin.

Wines grown in DOCG regions have the same strict set of guidelines as DOCs. They are also subject to a taste test and a chemical analysis.

In Italy, there are just over 30 DOCGs, mostly in Piemonte (Piedmont) and Tuscano (Tuscany).  

Dolce: Sweet, the wonderfulItalian dessert wines.

Fattoria: A medium sized wine growing property or estate

Fermentazione Naturale: Naturally sparkling wine

Frizzante: Lightly sparkling

IGT:Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT), table wines with a style typical to the place where they are made. Introduced in 1992 it  was created to recognize the unusually high quality of the class of wines known as Super Tuscans.

IGT wines are labeled with the locality of their creation, but do not meet the requirements of the stricter DOC or DOCG. Without these restrictions wine makers are free to make better more creative wines. There are 125 such Regions. 

Imbottigliato: Bottled

Imbottigliato all'origine: Estate bottled

Invecchiato: Aged

Liquoroso: Strong, sweet, often fortified wine

Località:  Literally, località means “locality” in Italian, though in wine labeling usage it translates more closely to "surroundings.

Maso or Masseria: Estate, usually in Puglia, one of our favorites is Masseria Altemura

Metodo Charmat: Tank method used for sparkling wine, a faster and easier way of making sparkling wine often used in making Prosecco. 

Metodo Classico or Metodo Tradizonale: Traditional method, bottle-fermented sparkling wine, or méthode champenoise of the Champagne region.

Passito or Passita: A generally strong, sweet wine made from part-dried grapes

Podere: A small wine growing property or estate

Poggio: A very common word, primarily found on Tuscan wines. In common parlance it has come to mean hillside, and literally means “hill."

Produttore: A wine producer

Recioto: Like Passito but only part made with dried grapes

Riserva: Aged more than usual by the winemaker before release to market

Ronchi: Terraced

Ronco: A hillside vineyard

Rosso: Red, Vino Rosso Per Favore.

Secco: Dry

Semisecco: Medium dry

Sodi: A piece of land that was historically very difficult to work.

Sorì: A high quality vineyard site, generally south facing

Spumante: Sparklingas in ASti Spumante

Stravecchio: Very old

Superiore: Made using high standards of production

Tenuta: A large wine growing property or estate

Uva: Grape and a great wine bar in NYC. UVA.

Uvaggio: A mixture of grapes

Valle: Valley

Vecchio: Old

Vendemmia: Also means vintage

Vigna or Vigneto: A single vineyard ,Vigneti Plural

Vigniaiolo or Viticoltore: Wine grower

Vino Novello: Wine that is considered new, in the bottle less than one year

Vitigno: Variety of grape

Vivace: Slightly sparkling