Italy

We just can't get enough of Italian wines at the moment, and it's little wonder, because this long, thin country has a massively diverse climate and culture so its wines come in all sorts of delicious styles from light and zingy whites to rich and meaty reds.

Italy is the original home of now world-wide popular Pinot Grigio, a grape which makes a delicate and light wine with pear drop flavours. And, because Pinot Grigio is so versatile it works well as an aperitif or as a partner to light dishes, so it's a naturally popular feature on by-the-glass wine lists.

Barolo, which is the name of a region in northern Italy as well as the wine style from that region is a deep, dark, brooding and tannic wine which is highly thought of by those in-the-know for its hedonistic texture and flavour.

The gateway from north to central Italy is occupied by the region of Emilia-Romagna, which isn't the most revered Italian wine region, but it is where good value for money wines can be found using the native and melon-fruited white variety, Trebbiano or the cherry-packed, native red grape Sangiovese.

Speaking of Sangiovese, that's the main grape in the famous wine style Chianti, made in Tuscany. Chianti, like Barolo, is the name of a region and the wine style, and it's won over wine drinkers for years with its soft cherry fruit and easy tannins. South of Chianti is Montalcino, a region which makes a souped-up, more robust and more tannic version of Chianti in the form of Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello is a relative of Sangiovese).

Down in Italy's warm south, the rich and peppery red grape of Primitivo is a sure fire winner with hearty red meat dishes, while Fiano is a white grape that's becoming increasingly popular and offers something with more texture and more defined citrus flavours than say, Pinot Grigio.