Italy's Most Planted Wine Grapes, by Region
The most planted wine grapes in Italy's wine regions are dominated by indigenous varieties. The top wine producing region in Italy, Veneto, is where the Glera variety dominates and is the variety used in Prosecco sparkling wine.
Sangiovese is the most prevalent across the regions, being the top planted variety in four of Italy's wine regions: Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, and perhaps most surprisingly Puglia. The Aglianico and Montepulciano varieties are the top planted in two different regions each...Aglianico in the Basilicata and Campania wine regions, and Montepulciano in the Abruzzo and Molise wine regions.
The most planted variety in two of Italy's wine regions are of French origin: Chardonnay in Trentino-Alto Adige and Pinot Grigio (aka Pinot Gris) in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The most planted variety in Italy's Lazio region is Malvasia, a variety that is widely planted throughout the Mediterranean and believed to have its origin in Greece. The Aglianico variety in Basilicata and Campania is also thought to be of ancient Greek origin, though DNA analysis has not shown a genetic heritage to any Greek variety. The Croatina variety (aka Bonarda) is the top planted in Lombardy, and is believed to have its origin in a coastal region of Croatia.
There are two other varieties with debated origins: Vermentino in Liguria and Cannonau in Sardinia. Vermentino (aka Rolle) has been attributed to either French or Iberian origin, though current DNA analysis has shown it to be genetically the same as the Pigato variety in Liguria and the Favorita variety in Piedmont. In Sardinia, Cannonau is the top planted variety, though it too is believed to have an Iberian origin and later spread to France and Italy's Sardinia. In Spain, the variety is known as Garnacha/Garnatxa and in France as Grenache.