The 8 Best Italian White Wines

Looking for white wines? This is the best time to begin your search for the best Italian white wines!

Italy has been making wine longer than any other country and produces more. So it’s not surprising that Italy’s white wines are as diverse as their red wines when the country has lots of varieties of grapes used for winemaking.

If you’re a wine enthusiast, there’s a fat chance that your search for the best wines in Italy won’t end, for each region produces a wide range of choices for you to indulge with.

Don’t fret because we will help you make this wine search journey a bit easy by sharing our list of Italy’s best white wines.

READ MORE: The 8 Best Italian Red Wines

The 8 Best Italian White Wines

The 8 Best Italian White Wines
The 8 Best Italian White Wines

Let’s take a look at the 8 best Italian white wines to have for any occasion.

1. Vin Santo del Chianti

The amber-hued Vin Santo dessert wines with the DOC designation of Vin Santo del Chianti are produced in the hills of Tuscany’s well-known Chianti wine zone.

Grapes for this type of wine are typically picked by hand and dried in bunches before being used. Because of this, the grapes’ water content decreases, and their sugar concentration rises.

The 2016 Fattoria La Vialla Vin Santo del Chianti Riserva is an award-winning and definitely one of the best white wines in Italy. This wine is full-bodied and rich, with flavors of dried fruits like raisin, date, apricot, and orange. The flavor is smooth and oily, with a hint of spice and toasted hazelnut.

2. Soave

Second on our best Italian white wines list is Soave, arguably the most famous Italian white wine DOC.

In the second half of the 20th century, Soave’s natural appeal aided it to remarkable popularity. If you were to ask any wine enthusiast to name the most popular Italian white wine, the answer you’d get would most likely be Pinot Grigio or Soave. The volume of Soave that has been exported from Veneto in the last few decades has made the others a distant second.

The 2019 Pieropan La Rocca Soave Classico has been scored by critics scored as one of the top 5 Soave wines. The subtle aromas of stone fruit, hazelnut, Spanish broom, and botanical herbs come through in this sparkling white wine. Flavors of ripe yellow pear, apricot, and a touch of lemon drop candy leads to a toasted almond finish on a palate that deftly balances structure and finesse. The tangy acidity maintains the full-bodied intensity.

3. Frascati

One of the most famous Italian white wines widely exported in the 1980s was the Frascati DOC, which is named after the town of Frascati on the outskirts of Rome.

There are a lot of interesting background stories hiding in a bottle of Frascati. The Romans dubbed it “golden wine,” so it was already well-known and respected before it became one of the first Italian wines to be awarded the designation of origin status (DOC).

The 2018 De Sanctis 496 Bio Frascati is a white wine with a warm, welcoming flavor of almonds and a bold character. Its fragrance and aromatic bindings contribute significantly to its outstanding balance and flavor.

4. Orvieto

Italian white wines from Orvieto are known by the same name. They are a special blend of grapes, primarily Grechetto and Procanico (the local name for Trebbiano).

Verdello, Drupeggio, and Malvasia Bianca are sometimes added to this blend in varying proportions.

White wine made under the Orvieto DOC of Umbria in Central Italy and coming from vineyards within the DOC’s traditional Classico viticultural area is known as Orvieto Classico.

Ruffino Orvieto Classico wines, for example, have pleasant hints of ripe pear, and wild white flowers greet the nose at the beginning. Flavors of yellow apple, pear, and tropical fruit form in the palate’s center, and the wine’s finish is crisp and refreshing.

5. Castelli di Jessi

Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Riserva, a new DOCG wine, was released in Italy in February 2010. This category now includes dry, still white wines from Verdicchio that were previously sold under the DOC Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi.

Villa Bucci Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Riserva DOCG is one of the many white wines under this appellation. An aromatic bouquet of broom, chamomile, nipitella, and fruit in yellow pulp jam envelops the nose, giving way to flint and hints of saltiness. Full and smooth on the tongue, with a smooth, iodized finish from which the fruit shines brightly.

This legendary wine helped found the Castelli di Jesi appellation. Among the best Italian white wines, Villa Bucci’s Verdicchio Riserva stands out for its refined complexity and extraordinary longevity on the palate.

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6. Trebbiano d’ Abruzzo

If you like dry red wines from the Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo appellation, you’ll also enjoy the region’s white wine – Trebbiano d’ Abruzzo.

In the central Italian region of Abruzzo, this DOC is unique because it is the only one that produces only white wines. Despite what the DOC name may lead one to believe, the grape varieties used are surprisingly diverse.

Emidio Pepe Trebbiano d’ Abruzzo wine has a complex aroma with hints of broom, ripe, yellow-fleshed fruit and candied apricot, wild fennel, honey, and light oxidative sensations. The taste is round and full, with a hint of grainy saltiness in the aftertaste.

A white wine that is both novel and straightforward, with a great deal of regional character. White wine from Abruzzo is among the best in Italy because of the region’s unique dialectic between fruit pulp, flavor, and the wine’s ability to age.

7. Toscana

The Italian Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) title Toscana IGT is the best-known and most widely recognized of all IGTs in the country. The entire region of Tuscany is included, and wines from any of its ten provinces can use the Toscana IGT label.

Toscana IGT wines can take on almost any style, from bone-dry whites to sweet reds and sparkling rosés, because they are not subject to the same stylistic restrictions as DOCG and DOC wines. Given Tuscany’s long history of success with dry red wines, this style is the most common, with the Sangiovese grape being used in many cases.

Querciabella Batàr Toscana IGT is a good example of this kind. On the nose, you’ll pick up a wide variety of aromas, from ripe fruit to yellow flesh, acacia, custard, and saffron. It has a velvety texture that envelops the mouth and builds to a luscious, lingering finish of creaminess. Using only natural, native yeasts in the vinification process.

Batàr, the label’s crown jewel, is a wine of uncommon finesse that strikes a perfect balance between its fatty and savory elements. This is one of the most distinctive and full-bodied white wines Made in Italy.

8. Irpinia

An area of Campania in Southern Italy is known by the name Irpinia. It can be found in the lower Apennine mountains, to the northeast of Avellino province. In 2005, it was designated as a DOC.

Irpinia DOC and the three DOCGs of Campania all fall under their scope. There are a number of other successful plant varieties in this area, including the Coda di Volpe, Falanghina, Piedirosso (called Per’e Palummo in the region), and Sciascinoso (also called Olivella). These once-obscure grapes have emerged into the spotlight thanks to modern vinification methods.

The Quintodecimo Via del Campo Falanghina Irpinia wine has received a good score from the critics, making it one of the best Italian white wines. This comes in a huge bottle and has hints of banana and pineapple along with the smell of wild herbs and even a hint of toast. The flavors and aromas are carried over to the smooth palate, where they combine with a bitter almond note and end on a saline note.

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