Italy is renowned for its incredibly extensive range of red wine & indigenous grape varieties. Some of them have made their way to Australia - you’ve probably heard of Arneis, Montepulciano, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Fiano, Sangiovese, Dolcetto, Nero d'Avola and more recently Glera (the Prosecco grape), to name a few.
Italian grape varieties generally have more natural acidity and so can cope better with hotter climatic conditions, like we have here. Sangiovese is the most-planted Italian red in Australia (and also the most planted in Italy).
Two big regions for Italian varieties are the McLaren Vale in SA, and the King Valley in VIC.
McLaren Vale has a Mediterranean climate and enjoys the cooling influence of the ocean. It is often compared to Italy. That’s one reason Italian reds have spread here, and another is migration, which has made its mark on the food and wine and encouraged the expansion of styles. The incredible soil diversity in this South Australian region is also favourable to diverse wine styles, and that’s proven by the immense number of varieties in the ground.
The King Valley wine region has also been strongly influenced by Italian migrants, who started with tobacco farms but soon saw a more lucrative opportunity in vines. This community also contributed their much-loved cuisine and so, of course, needed wine to match. That resulted in the King Valley as we know it today, which is often referred to as the ‘Little Italy’ of Victoria. It is particularly popular for its Prosecco trail, but there are lots of Italian wine varieties here, including reds.
