Novità

Novita is a range of everyday Italian varietals drawn from the Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, the two regions that between them supply a great deal of what the world drinks as Italian wine.

That is not a criticism. The Po valley and the Veneto plain have deep alluvial soils, reliable sunshine and a long growing season, and they produce enormous quantities of clean, well-made wine at prices no hillside vineyard could match. Pinot Grigio, Trebbiano and Sangiovese are the staples, made in stainless steel, bottled young and intended to be opened without ceremony.

Italy has more registered grape varieties than any country on earth, somewhere above five hundred, and more land under vine than all but a couple. Wines like these are the base of that pyramid, and there is no shame in it. The name means novelty or something new, and these are wines for a Tuesday rather than an occasion.