What is a vine

Although there is evidence that some form of viticulture and wine making was practiced in Italy long before their arrival, it seems likely the Greeks taught the local inhabitants this art. In ancient times was almost universally considered a gift of the gods: the Greeks attributed it to Dionysus, the Idians to Soma, the Egyptians to Osiris, and the Jews thought it contributed to stability and civilization.
Although we know that all this started as early as some 4000 years before the birth of Christ, it is difficult to establish the origin of the vine.
The bible tells us that, having ended up on Mount Ararat with the ark, Noah start to cultivate it. Vines and wine were considered to be the symbols of prosperity and freedom in the Old Testament, while in the New Testament wine became mystically symbolic as Jesus offered it to his disciples as his blood, claiming himself to be the true vine. The most active wine merchants in antiquity were the Phoenicians who shipped wine to Black Sea and Mediterranean ports, but it was the Greeks who, having occupied the southern part of Italy, know as Magna Graecia, made the most of the fertile terrain and favorable micro climates to grow the vine. They were soon shipping back to Greece, and it is said that one such wine, Ciro', was traditionally presented to the winners of the Olympic games. As for the rest of the country north of Naples, it seems that proper viticulture practices were introduced by the Etruscan s, who settled there from the east around 700 BC Consequently the whole of the peninsula was soon covered with vineyards and become as Enotria Tellus (land of vines). When the Roman appeared on the scene some four centuries later, ethnological practices were intensified and wherever the Roman legions went, so did the vine: the Romans introduced viticulture to Gaul and to Britain. In those days, wine was aged for long periods before drinking; indeed Cicero claims that he, and others, most enjoyed wines a century old. Originally, Roman women were not allowed to drink wine, as the commodity was often limited.In fact,by 92 BC the Emperor Domitian was forced to restrict the cultivation of vines because their popularity was affecting the a mount of wheat grown, which was much more important for the subsistence of his people.After the Romans,viticulture suffered in Italy, particularly during the Middle Ages, when the local population was heavily engaged in fighting the invading barbarians, or running away from them. But there were some exceptions to that rule, perhaps the most outstanding example being that of Theodoric, king of the Goths, who, according to Cassiodorus, his historian, punished those who damaged the few remaining vineyards. Needless to say he greatly appreciated wine,especially wine, especially that know as Acinatico, believed to be the predecessor of our present day Recioto, a wine produced near Verona. Apparently Charles the Great had a similar attitude toward hooligans damaging vines,whom he punished with heavy fines.But it wasn't until the fifteenth century or thereabouts that the cultivation of the vine came back into fashion as part of the revival of agriculture as a whole.
By the end of the sixteenth century wine had become extremely popular, and thus important commercially and, some 150 years later, the first agricultural academies were set up in the north of the country in Brescia, Conegliano, Veneto and Treviso, where studies included viticulture and oenology. Soon, aristocrats and businessmen realized viticulture the business potential of wine and started to acquire land to plants vines. Under the supervision of skilled oenologists, they were soon producing enough wine even for export to remote places. But by the late nineteenth century, phylloxera, a disease that wipes out vines, hit Europe, and Italian vineyards did not escape- they suffered the consequences until it was discovered that grafting vines on to American root stocks would solve the problem. Production soon recovered and by the 1890 annual Italian wine production was some 30 million hectoliters.Ten years later it had increased to nearly 45 million, and a decade on had exceeded 60 million hectoliters, which is more or less Italy's average production at the beginning of the third millennium.
Efforts to regulate the production of wines in Italy can be traced back to the first wine guilds of the Middle Ages and even to Roma times. But it is only much more recently, since the 1930s, that legislation has been tightened up significantly, especially with the first royal decrees authorizing the formation of Consortia among producers of particular wines, and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry beginning to identify and officially recognize production areas. The real breakthrough came in 1963 with Presidential Decree 930, which set out the regulations for the control of wine production in Italy and introduced Denominazione d'Origine for wine produced in a specific area, from specific grape varieties, to specific yields, and aged and bottled in accordance with DOC regulations. Since then the classification of Italian wines has been farther developed has a pyramidal configuration as follows:
DOCG awarded to wines of outstanding quality with a DOC of at least five years.
DOC ages at least five years.
IGT introduced in1992 to bridge the gap between DOC and vino da tavola. IGT is often used for wine sold under their varietal names and produced in larger production areas. IGT wines, unlike vini da tavola are subject to yield limitations.
Vini da tavola VdT is basic table wine category.However, some of Italy's best wine, made by dynamic producers who don't conform to Denominazioni d'Origine regulations( by using Bordeaux blends, for example), cannot claim the quality designation.