The Best of Central and Southern Italy

by Antonio Galloni

The regions of central and southern Italy offer consumers an incredibly wide panorama of wines that cover a veritable kaleidoscope of grape varieties and styles. As outstanding as the top wines are, I must caution readers that overall quality is highly irregular, even within the portfolios of the better producers. This is one critical element that separates the center and south, as opposed to regions likes Tuscany and Piedmont, where as a general rule producers are much more consistent. The good news is that the wines of the center and south remain very reasonably priced. These wines are unlikely to attract the feverish, sometimes speculative, interest of recent Tuscan and Piedmontese vintages, and therefore remain wines for the true consumer who intends to actually drink the wines.