Amordivino Wines
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Calabria

Population: 2.070.992
Surface (Kmq): 15080
Density (Inhabitants/Kmq.): 137
Main city: Catanzaro (CZ)
Other towns: Cosenza (CS); Crotone (KR); Reggio Calabria (RC), Vibo Valentia (VV).

Calabria is the extreme SW region of mainland Italy, washed by the Tyrrhenian and lonian Seas. It is a mountainous region, with a high central Apennine ridge crossing it north to south. The coastlines present landscapes of wild beauty. Calabria is a place for two types of people: Calabrians and adventurers. It is bewildering, even frightening to all others, but richly rewarding for those who want to go beyond the common stereotypes of Italy.
In Calabria there are: unforgettable vistas across rugged mountains, vast golden wheat fields and crystal clear seas; age-old olive trees that grow as tall as eucalyptus; ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Norman ruins, forgotten by time, which suddenly loom over the horizon; shy but hospitable villagers who still wear voluminous black skirts or colourful traditional costumes; delicious fish, vegetables, cheese, sausage, salami, wild mushrooms and figs.


 
 
  
 

Calabria, which forms the toe of the Italian boot, is a predominately mountainous region with marked variations in micro-climates between the sunny coastal hills along the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas and the chilly heights of the Sila and Aspromonte massifs. Two grape varieties of Greek origin dominate: Gaglioppo in red wines, Greco in whites, though the types of wine they make can vary markedly from one place to another.

The Greeks introduced many grape varieties and winemaking techniques to Calabria, but the indigenous people became so adept in the art of vine cultivation and fermentation that soon the wines produced in the colony were considered better than those made in Greece. The area became known as Oenotria or "Land of Wine", a definition that later was extended to much of the Italian peninsula.

Calabria's best-known wine is Cirò, which grows in low hills along the Ionian coast between the ancient Greek cities of Sybaris and Kroton (Sibari and Crotone today). Local legend has it that Cirò descended directly from Krimisa, the wine Calabrian athletes drank to celebrate victory in an early Olympiad.

DOC wines:
Bivongi
Ciro
Donnici
Greco di Bianco
Lamezia
Melissa
Pollino
San Vito di Luzzi
Sant'Anna Isola di Capo Rizzuto
Savuto
Scavigna
Verbicaro

IGT wines:
Arghillà
Calabria
Condoleo
Costa Viola
Esaro
Lipuda
Locride
Palizzi
Pellaro
Scilla
Val di Neto
Valdamato
Valle del Crati