Tuscany
The subject of Tuscan wine is absolutely vast and you'd need to spend a lot of time studying it to understand even the basics. Tuscany's success is largely due to it's hilly terrain and the vast number of individual mesoclimates. The predominant grape is Sangiovese, although there are at least 14 different clones of this variety such as Prugnello and Brunello, both famous in their own right, in their own DOCs where they can command upwards of £40 per bottle.Tuscany's vines were wiped out by a severe frost in 1956 and were quickly replanted with high yielding clones, which produced vast quantities of mediocre wines. In the last 20 years or so there has been a firm swing over to lower yielding higher quality vines. Many producers were unhappy with the DOC restrictions and used their expertise to produce stunning wines outside the system, simply labelled as Vino da Tavola. This was the birth of the 'Super Tuscans'. The laws were altered in 1992 and they now have to have either IGT or DOC status to display a vintage or provenance on the label.There can be tremendous differences between two wines with the same classification, which makes selecting Tuscan wines very difficult for the amateur enthusiast. All the ones we are recommending below are superb. Most have a typical Tuscan dry finish. If this is not your style, consider the slightly sweeter Veneto wines instead.
