Italian Wine Beyond Tuscany: 3 Other Regions Worth Drinking In

We love Tuscany, too. But Italy has 20 wine-producing regions. Why should Chianti have all the fun? Head north, east, and very south from Tuscany for three deliciously different wine adventures. 

Tuscany has become almost shorthand for Italian wine travel: cypress-lined roads, Renaissance hill towns, vineyard-covered hills and a glass of Chianti waiting at lazy sun-drenched lunches and on terraces at sunset. 

Now that’s the Dolce Vita. But perhaps it’s time to stop giving Tuscany all the love. 

Every one of Italy’s 20 regions produces wine, and some of the country’s most memorable wine experiences lie well beyond the usual Tuscan trail. You can sip Barolo within sight of the Alps, follow Italy’s original wine road through Prosecco country, or taste wines grown in the black volcanic soil of an active volcano.

Consider this your three-glass introduction to another side of Italian wine country.

Piedmont: Bring on the Barolo — and the Truffles

Tucked into northwestern Italy at the foot of the Alps — Piemonte literally means “foot of the mountain” — it’s home to two of Italy’s most prestigious wines, Barolo and Barbaresco, both made from the Nebbiolo grape.

Make Alba your base. The handsome small city is surrounded by the UNESCO-listed vineyard landscapes of the Langhe, where rolling hills are quilted with vines and topped with medieval villages and castles.

This is slow-travel country: winding roads, family wineries, long lunches and very little incentive to hurry.

Especially in fall, when Alba celebrates its famous white truffles and the vineyards turn gold. Barolo and truffles on an autumn afternoon in Piedmont? Sometimes travel really is as good as the brochure promised.

And Piedmont isn’t all serious reds. It’s also home to Moscato d’Asti, delicately sparkling, aromatic and sweet. Apparently even sophisticated friends like to let their hair down.

Veneto: Follow the Bubbles

Venice may be Veneto’s superstar, but head north from the canals, and you’ll discover another of the region’s great liquid attractions.

The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene ripple toward the Dolomites in impossibly green folds. They’re UNESCO-listed, too, and the vineyards can be so steep that much of the work is still done by hand.

Follow the Strada del Prosecco, Italy’s oldest official wine route, through villages and vineyards where Glera grapes become everything from cheerful aperitivo bubbles to more complex Proseccos from prized hillside plots.

But Veneto has another wine personality altogether.

Around romantic Verona and Lake Garda lies Valpolicella country, home to fresh, food-friendly reds as well as Amarone, the region’s rich, powerful wine traditionally made from partially dried grapes.

Bubbles, big reds, Verona, Venice and Lake Garda? Veneto over-delivers on wine tourism and iconic Italian experiences.

Sicily: Wine With a Little Fire

For Italy’s wild-card wine adventure, keep heading south, and overwater across the Strait of Messina.

Sicily combines ancient winemaking traditions, indigenous grapes, and landscapes that can be wonderfully dramatic. And nowhere is that more obvious than Mount Etna.

Vineyards climb the dark slopes of Europe’s highest active volcano, where altitude, lava-derived soils and dramatic temperature changes help create remarkably distinctive wines.

Nerello Mascalese is the red grape to remember; Carricante is one of Etna’s white stars. Some vines are remarkably old, partly because volcanic, sandy soils helped protect vineyards from phylloxera, the pest that devastated much of Europe’s wine country in the 19th century.

But Etna is only one chapter of Sicily’s wine story. Look for Nero d’Avola, elegant Frappato, historic Marsala, and wines from Sicily’s smaller offshore islands.

And admit it: the vacation story you want to share is “I spent the afternoon wine tasting on an active volcano.”

Think Outside the Tuscan Wine Glass – and Trip

None of this means breaking up with Tuscany. Chianti, Brunello and those glorious Tuscan landscapes aren't going anywhere.

Just consider seeing other wines. And exploring all of Italy one wine region at a time.

START YOUR TRIP!

Images: Getty

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