Piedmont is where we look first. Barolo is Nebbiolo alone, grown in eleven communes of the Langhe hills south of Alba, Barolo, La Morra, Castiglione Falletto, Serralunga d'Alba, Monforte d'Alba, Verduno, Novello, Grinzane Cavour, Diano d'Alba, Cherasco and Roddi, and aged at least 38 months before release, 18 of them in wood; the riserva waits five years. Barbaresco, on the other side of Alba, in the communes of Barbaresco, Neive and Treiso, is the same grape with a shorter ageing, two years with nine months in wood. Further north, at the foot of Monte Rosa, Gattinara grows Nebbiolo, called Spanna there, on volcanic porphyry soils between 250 and 550 metres, for wines that are lighter in colour and firmer in acidity than their Langhe cousins.

The Aosta Valley makes mountain wines from steep terraces, from Nebbiolo again under the name Picotendro, from Petit Rouge and Fumin, and from whites such as Petite Arvine. Sicily brings the volcanic wines of Etna and, on the island of Pantelleria, whites from vines planted in hollows to shelter them from the wind. Several of the estates here also appear among our natural wines.

The wines above are every Italian wine in the cellar. See also the other world wines, our red wines or the new arrivals.