You might have noticed that we have made huge strides in Italy over recent years. Covering the country from the North-East to Sicily has been a big task, but we have uncovered numerous delicious wines, both white and red in a wide range of styles.

Of course, quality binds them together, alongside their natural ability to match effortlessly the superb culinary side of the country, whether local or more mainstream – there are many partners for your spaghetti bolognese! Flavours include the rich and spicy from the South, piercingly fresh and structured from the North, and all manner of nuances in between, well balanced and well made. There is no excuse for avoiding them.

For top Italian white wines, it has to be the state of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, right in the very North-East of the country. The best tend to come from two hilly areas: Colli Orientali del Friuli (literally Friuli’s Eastern Hills) and Collio. It’s pretty countryside where the roads twist up hill and down dale, and a wrong turn can bring you to the Slovenian border. Sirch wines (pronounced ‘Seark’) are not mainstream, but they are not too idiosyncratic either, in fact they make a good alternative to safe choices such as Chablis, Sancerre and Kiwi Sauvignon. Piemonte is a great red wine producing area, also a great area for food that goes so brilliantly alongside them. Alba is the truffle capital of Italy and the creamy dishes contrast with the oil-based cooking of further south. Barolo and Barbaresco crown a growing list of denominated areas, and are both made from the region’s most serious black grape, Nebbiolo. We, however, love the Barbera grape whose very delicious, damson-fruit wines have improved immeasurably in recent years as a result of better winemaking. Dolcetto is the third major player whose wines are not sweet as the name suggests, but tends to be made in a light, easy-drinking, Beaujolais style.

Three new growers have been added to our list recently, all in a small-scale, Burgundian mould. Paolo Conterno is very much a family affair, run by the energetic Giorgio Conterno, near Monforte d’Alba in the tiny hamlet of La Ginestra which lends its name to one of the most famous ‘cru’ vineyards of Barolo. The Conternos have seven hectares, in which part of La Ginestra is the jewel, and the wines are receiving more and more acclaim in guides such as Gambero Rosso. Still in Barolo, but over the hills at La Morra is Eugenio Bocchino and his wife Cinzia who make a super range of wines, most with striking, Dachshund-adorned labels, so good for anyone with a love of great Italian wines and sausage dogs! The Bocchinos have just 5.5 hectares and a stylish, new house-cum-winery in the vineyards.

The wine of Barbaresco, to the west of Barolo, can be prettier and more immediate than Barolo, and none more so than that of Renato Fenocchio, a charming grower who has spent his whole life growing grapes, but came out of the co-op only relatively recently. Renato and his wife Milva work 11 tiny, steep vineyards and for them the quality of fruit is paramount, using minimal intervention in the winery in case it changes the pure expression of their vines. Near Asti, a town rather than just a foamy, sweet sparkling wine, there is Braida, a producer which became famous in the 80s for doing the first barrique-aged Barberas under the auspices of Giacomo Bologna. His children Beppe and Raffaella, plus son-in-law Norbert, carry on his work with style in a succession of playfully named and labelled Barberas, a wonderful sparkling Moscato and a fine blend called Il Bacialé, the ‘Matchmaker’.

We are now shipping regularly from Tuscany both from the photogenic area of Chianti Classico which lies between Florence and Siena and from further south in Montalcino. We bring in the Sesti wines because they are nothing short of brilliant, right through from the Grangiovese to Giuseppe Sesti’s top cuvées of Brunello di Montalcino. Just outside the hilltop town of Montalcino is Podere Santa Maria, belonging to Marino Colleoni; the cool, northern tip of the Montalcino hills where you tend to find the finest, red fruit wines which are epitomised by those of Colleoni.

Our Chianti estates include Riecine, which is run by Anglo-Irishman Sean O’Callaghan, who has been there almost twenty years since he graduated from Geisenheim wine school. This is a high estate, up in the forests above Gaiole-in-Chianti, where Sean makes very fine, svelte wines which have gone down a storm with all customers who have tasted them. The second is La Massa, right in the warm heart of Chianti Classico, in an area known as the ‘Conca d’Oro’ or ‘Golden Basin’ where four south-facing spurs are occupied by four of Chianti’s top producers. Giampaolo Motta’s Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet are densely planted on a diverse range slopes, lending great complexity to his wines, while late-harvesting gives them beautiful harmony and super-ripe tannins.

Finally, the South of the country, and the delightful wines and winemakers that we have found from Basilicata, Campania, Puglia and Sicily. The Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano, is the focal point for the Aglianico grape, ripe and smoky, while the white Greco and rarer white Coda di Volpe are a real finds. In Basilicata, Oronzo Alò creates a smooth silky blend of Aglianico with Cabernet, while across in Puglia you come to the old vine Primitivo of Gaetano Morella with its extraordinary concentration. Take a boat to Sicily and you’ll find charismatic Bruno Fina, creator of the best Grillo white we have tried, and some outstanding Nero d’Avola, Sicily’s best red grape by some way, at a very good price. This rounds off a range packed with intriguing delights just waiting to be discovered.

James Tanner