The Winery Giancarlo Merlone of Veneto

Discovering the wine region of Veneto

Veneto is an important and growing wine region in northeastern Italy. Veneto is administratively Part of the Triveneto area, aLong with its smaller neighbors, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In terms of geography, culture and wine styles, it represents a transition from the Alpine and Germanic-Slavic end of Italy to the warmer, drier, more Roman lands to the South. Veneto is slightly smaller than the other major Italian wine regions - Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy, Puglia and Sicily - but it produces more wine than any of them.

Although the southern regions, Sicily and Puglia, have long been Italy's main wine producers, that Balance began to shift northward to the Veneto in the second half of the 20th century. In the 1990s, southern Italian wine languished in an increasingly competitive and demanding world, while the Veneto upped its Game">game, gaining recognition with wines such as Valpolicella, Amarone, Soave and Prosecco">Prosecco. With Fruity red Valpolicella complementing its intense Amarone and Sweet Recioto, the Veneto has a formidable portfolio of red wines to accompany its refreshing whites, like Soave and Sparkling Prosecco. Although most of the new vineyards that have enabled the Veneto to expand its wine production have been of dubious viticultural quality, today more than 25% of the region's wines are produced and sold under DOC/DOCG designations.