Italy’s Best White Wines: 12 Essential Grapes to Know

For all the time people spend dreaming about luxuriating under the Tuscan sun, spritz in hand, or cruising around the Venetian laguna with a flute of Prosecco, the mention of Italian wine still tends to conjure bold, tannic reds ready to stand up to a big plate of pasta. But white grapes in Italy are having something of a renaissance, with more and more producers focusing on crafting exciting, delicious and satisfying wines with indigenous white grapes. These bottlings showcase Italy’s rare and dynamic terroir—and serve as a reminder that the peninsula has always had incredible wines of all colors.

The tricky part, as ever with Italian wine, is getting a handle on the vast landscape of possibilities, given the incredible diversity of white grapes and regional representations. Getting to know the top grapes takes a little time, but anyone willing to dive in can be sure they’ll be paid back in dividends. That’s because coming vintages of Italian whites are poised to be tremendous deals, with expressions that range from fresh, fun and eminently drinkable to serious, structured and ageable.

Where should an Italian white grape journey begin? The below varietals represent major players that are either widely planted across Italy or are huge stars in their region. While they’re all decidedly unique, what ties them together is their ability to capture the specific characteristics of the place they’re grown, the long history of their presence there and the people who shape them into wine.

---

Arneis (Piedmont)

If Italy is known for its reds more generally, Piedmont—home of the king and queen of Italian wine, Barolo and Barbaresco—is the ultimate example of a region you would never think of for white wine. Enter Arneis, a grape that produces an ethereal glass of white, laying jasmine and honeysuckle over white peaches and pears before a nutty, umami finish.

One to try:

Glera (Veneto & Friuli)

Have you gotten on the Negroni Sbagliato train and gotten in the habit of adding Prosecco to your drinks? Then Glera is already on your radar, even if you didn’t realize it. This grape is the backbone for Italy’s crowd-pleasing sparkling white, which can have high acidity that balances a healthy amount of residual sugar. Look out for a Prosecco col fondo to see Glera in its finest form.

One to try:

Fiano (Campania)

Sometimes hailed as the best white grape in Italy, and even considered to produce some of the best white wines in the world, Fiano is unquestionably a showstopper. In addition to tremendous age-ability, its ability to express flavors is uncanny—they can range from nutty to salty to smoky even as it also offers rich, round fruit and subtle floral qualities. A sip of a great Fiano brings to mind the Italian term “spreazzatura”—to make something complex seem easy.

One to try:

Garganega (Veneto)

An ancient varietal that is likely the parent of many other white grapes on the peninsula, Garganega fell victim to the same fate that befell many Italian grapes, white or red, when in the middle of the last century the global economic expansion of the wine market incentivized quantity over quality. The last decades have been good to Garganega, mercifully, and now it’s relatively easy to find these bright but sophisticated whites, especially from the Soave Classico zone.

One to try:

Grillo (Sicily)

Because it delivers an easy-to-love combo of citrus, stone fruit and salt on the palate, there are those who think of Grillo as the Sauvignon Blanc of Sicily, but don’t let that fool you. Grillo has the chops to make concentrated, focused wines with savory, mineral depth. And as the primary grape in Marsala, it reveals seemingly endless layers of flavor and texture worth meditating over.

One to try:

You May Also Like: A Beginner’s Guide to the Wines of Sicily

Malvasia (Everywhere)

Ok, this one’s a bit of a misdirect. Malvasia is indeed an important white grape in Italy, but it comes in so many forms and the name is used so loosely that it could refer to nearly any style or even an entire subgroup of the varietal, which has gained autochthonous characteristics (read: specific qualities associated with a hyperlocal terroir and climate). Held in esteem since at least the late Middle Ages, Malvasia has a long history that enriches but also complicates attempts to trace its origins and meanderings across Italy. Look out for Emilia-Romagna’s Malvasia di Candia, which can have flavors as unexpected as bergamot and cinnamon, or Malvasia Istriana (Friuli Venezia Giulia), with its searing acid and buoyant salinity.

One to try:

Moscato (Everywhere)

Like Malvasia, Moscato is a shapeshifter grown across the peninsula and used to make all different kinds of wines. The bad news: It’s hard to pin down. The good news, however, is that it’s almost universally delicious, whether in its ultra-popular form as an off-dry sparkler in Moscato d’Asti from the northwest, as a decadent dessert in Sicily, where it’s known as Zibibbo, or as its aromatic, easygoing self as a table wine from various regions.

One to try:

Ribolla Gialla (Friuli Venezia Giulia)

It’s striking how little traction Ribolla Gialla has gotten outside of its native region of Friuli, but exciting to imagine what’s still on the horizon for this absolutely delightful, resilient, aromatic but astringent grape. A particularly good candidate for crafting orange or skin-contact wines, Ribolla performs well after a little maceration and can even take a bit of botrytis (the Glinda of fungus aka Good Fungus), offering a sweet-savory balance that few others can achieve.

One to try:

Trebbiano (Everywhere)

At first blush, Trebbiano seems to pose the same problem as Malvasia and Moscato—that is, a grape that’s grown everywhere and could be anything. The line Trebbiano walks is slightly different, however, in that it was long perceived as a hearty, productive but not particularly nuanced grape, suited for blending or for simple juice. Not so today, when wines from great producers using Trebbiano Abruzzese (Abruzzo), Trebbiano Spoletino (Umbria) or Procanico (aka Trebbiano Toscano from Lazio) have demonstrated that Trebbiano can be the star of the show.

One to try:

Verdicchio (Lombardy, Marche, Veneto)

An absolute stunner of a grape, Verdicchio, also known as Turbiana when it turns up in Lombardy or the Veneto (as opposed to its somewhat more famous iteration from the Marche), is distinguished by its searing acid and salty minerality, laid on top of citrus, bitter almond and wild herbs. When treated with care, it can age for years, even decades, becoming greater than the sum of its parts.

One to try:

You May Also Like: The Rise of Italian Grapes in American Vineyards

Vermentino (Liguria, Tuscany, Sardinia)

Like squeezing a lemon on top of a plate of fritto misto while enjoying a sea breeze and the sun warming your face, Vermentino is the ultimate Italian beach party in a glass. Fresh, saline and citric, it’s gorgeous as an aperitif, and especially fun as a lightly bubbly frizzante, but still more than capable of holding its own through a full meal.

One to try:

Vernaccia (Tuscany)

A grape that has been appreciated since at least the late Middle Ages—the Tuscan poet Dante mentions it in his medieval masterpiece the Divine Comedy—Vernaccia is mostly found today in its ultra-crisp, refreshing, easy-to-love version. Though lively with notes of citrus and wild herbs, it can stand up to oak aging, revealing a savory, mature white wine that can last for years.

One to try:

Last Updated: November 7, 2023