Vines were growing in what is now Italy before the dawn of recorded history. A customer of ours who is an Archeo-Oenologist (he studies of ancient wineries and olive oil production for a living, how cool is that?) says that purpose planted vineyards have been dated to the late Bronze Age and all indications are that the purpose in the mind of the planters was wine, then not just a healthier substitute for suspect sources of water but an important part of the ritualistic and spiritual life of early humans.

Around 800 BC, before there WERE any Romans, the Etruscans (coming from Asia Minor) landed at what is now the Morellino di Scansano zona on the Tuscan coast and almost immediately began viticulture for wine production. Within 100 years the Greeks began colonizing Magna Graecia (Greater Greece) in a big way on Sicilia and at what is now the Cirò zona in Calabria. The Greeks called their new home “Enotria” (the land of vines) because there were so many indigenous varieties that, as Virgil noted a millennium later, “He who would number them, the same would wish to count the sand that Zephyr stirs on Libya’s wastelands”! The Greeks also introduced the worship of Dionysus, the son of Zeus who was their god of wine and revelry, and thus launched La Dolce Vita on its record breaking 2800 year continuous run. So, it seems only fitting to start at the beginning and from the bottom up in presenting our ever expanding selection of hand picked Vini Italiani for your pleasure.

Go to the menu on the left of the main page of this site and you will find our selections sorted into White, Red, Dessert and even Organic wines with geographically arranged offerings in easy to use submenus. Cheers!