Italy

Wine is produced in every region of Italy, home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an area of 695,000 hectares under vine today. Etruscans and Greek settlers produced wine in Italy before the Romans planted their own vineyards in the 2nd century AD. The Romans greatly increased Italy's area under vine using efficient viticultural and winemaking methods, and pioneered large-scale production and storage techniques such as barrel making and bottling.
There is a dazzling array of regions, grapes, styles and history, making Italy really more like 20 wine producing countries in one. There are now more than 500 different appellations (DOCG, DOC/DOP and IGT titles), each with their own set of rules and regulations. This mind-boggling number is dwarfed by the sheer number of grape varieties grown (2000+). Famous regions like Prosecco, Barolo, Chianti, etc. have been on wine lists and in cellars since the concepts began, and today there is a widespread movement towards natural / low intervention winemaking.