The wines of Southern Italy are waiting to be discovered. The Italian wine region that stretches south of Rome through the toe and heel of Italy’s famous boot has produced excellent wines since the Greeks crossed the sea and planted vines there some 3,000 years ago. Yet each season brings new fine wines to try from the Southern Italian regions of Campania, Basilicata, Puglia and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
Southern Italy has abundant warmth and sunshine, providing agreeable conditions for grapevines. Large-scale farming operations, especially on the relatively flat Puglia terrain, traditionally served as a major source of inexpensive, bulk Italian wine. The hillier sections of the region – Southern Italy is dotted with both active and extinct volcanoes and their unique soil – have long produced the region’s most notable fine wines.