THE COLORS OF GRAPES

Grapevines in Italy have been cultivated since the second millennium BC and there is no Italian region that does not have its own vineyards. 

Thanks to its geography and its history, Italy has the most diverse variety of grapevines in the world.  

Vine varieties represent the different varieties of grapes, and the characteristic of each wine depends on the grape variety.

In fact, every grapevine has specific attributes, which vary according to cultivation (resistance to climate and parasites, exposure to sun, type of soil, etc.) and enological characteristics (size and shape of berries and seeds, thickness of the skin, sugar content, level of acidity, tannins, etc.).

In Italy there are a great number of autochthonous vine varieties.

To date, five hundred and forty-five wine grape varieties have been registered in Italy and they have many different characteristics from each other.

Viticulture is the science which deals with the cultivation of grapevines. It is from this discipline that it is possible to learn the many varieties of vines present in Italy, as well as their classification which is divided into precise categories.

The classification can be done according to the origin (autochthonous, regional, national, international), or according to the aromatic molecules of the grape. The criteria used for classification are different but usually the most obvious method is the one based on the color of the berry or more precisely the color of the skin of the berry, since the color of the pulp inside (with rare exceptions) is always white.

Wines take their colors from the skin of the grape, sort of.  Red grapes generally make red wines, but not always. Green grapes make white wines, which are not always white.

But that’s another story!