You're standing in front of a wine
list. Barbaresco, Barolo, Brunello—all those B's swimming together. Someone at
the table asks what the difference is between DOC and DOCG, and you realize
you're not entirely sure yourself. Or maybe you are sure, but explaining it
without sounding like you're reading from a textbook is another matter
entirely.
I've spent forty years navigating Italian wine in
America, and I still find myself circling back to these fundamentals. Not
because they're complicated—they're not, really—but because understanding them
changes how you see the entire Italian wine landscape. It's like learning to
read the grain in a piece of wood before you start carving.
