As the temperatures heat up, days lengthen and sitting outdoors becomes the ultimate social activity, aperitivo in Italy has become a permanent affair. Whether it’s casual meet-ups at your favourite bar or organising with a group of friends at home (or better if you have a terrace), the go-to drink tends to be a refreshing glass of wine. Preferably served with some bites – us Italians don’t drink on an empty stomach – which are generally olives, taralli, almonds or peanuts or, if you really want to show off, a tagliere ( a cheese and cured meats board). Sometimes (or most of the time in summer) aperitivo rolls out to dinner, meaning that if you’re out, you order some sharing dishes and get lost in between chats. But back to the point, in this article we are unveiling some of our favourite Italian wines to sip on a warm day with your favourite people.
1
Donnafugata: Chiarandà 2022
Donnafugata is one of those wine stories that feels as layered as the island it comes from. Founded in 1983 by Giacomo Rallo, the fourth generation of a family with over 170 years of Sicilian winemaking behind it, and his wife Gabriella, a pioneer of quality viticulture in her own right, the estate takes its name from Il Gattopardo by Tomasi di Lampedusa’s, a reference that speaks to its deep roots in Sicilian culture and identity. Today the winery is led by their children Antonio and José, with the sixth generation: siblings Ferdinando and Gabriella. The range is extraordinary in its breadth: Mille e una Notte, Tancredi, the delicate Lighea and the legendary Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria all deserve their reputations. But the wine that feels most right for this season is Chiarandà. Produced in Contessa Entellina, in the south-western reaches of Sicily near Marsala, it is a single-varietal Chardonnay of real distinction aged for seven months on fine lees and a further eighteen months in bottle before release.
2
Marco de Bartoli: Sole e Vento 2021
Marco de Bartoli is a name that carries considerable weight in Sicilian wine; a producer who, long before the island’s wines attracted the international attention they now command. Based in Marsala and Pantelleria, the estate draws from two of Sicily’s most characterful territories: the Samperi and Bukkuram vineyards, which produce wines of extraordinary expressiveness from indigenous varieties: Grillo, Zibibbo, Catarratto and Perricone among them. The estate continues today under his children Renato, Sebastiano and Giuseppina. We fell in love with Sole e Vento, a dry white made from Zibibbo grape on the island of Pantelleria. This nectar of sublime minerality is made from the same grape as the island’s famous passito but vinified dry.
3
Livio Felluga: Terre Alte 2022
Livio Felluga is one of the founding figures of modern Friulian wine; a producer who spent decades making the argument that this corner of north-eastern Italy was capable of whites of genuine complexity and age-worthiness. After WWII he rebuilt the historic vineyards of Rosazzo, transforming neglected hillside land into an internationally recognised benchmark of Italian white wine. The estate is now run by his children Maurizio, Elda, Andrea and Filippo. Among the wines we return to most consistently is Terre Alte, born in 1981 and widely regarded as one of Italy’s great whites. A blend of Friulano, Pinot Bianco and Sauvignon from the Rosazzo vineyards, it is fermented in stainless steel before moving to oak for a further fermentation and an extended rest on the lees; a process that builds the wine’s characteristic richness, saline edge and genuine capacity to age.
4
Il Borro: Borrorosa 2025
The history of Il Borro stretches back to Roman times, but the chapter that matters most for the wine begins in 1993, when Ferruccio Ferragamo acquired a neglected Tuscan borgo in the Valdarno hills and set about restoring it. Every intervention was entrusted to local craftsmen; the vineyards, planted from 1995, followed the same philosophy, organic farming from the outset, formally certified in 2015, with each variety positioned after years of careful terroir study. The rosé, made predominantly from Syrah with a small percentage of Sangiovese, is the perfect balance of freshness and structure.
5
Fontanafredda: Ampelio 2023
Fontanafredda is one of Piedmont’s most storied estates, dating back to the mid 19th century when King Vittorio Emanuele II purchased it as a gift to his wife Rosa Vercellana. It was their son Emanuele Alberto who transformed it into a fully-fledged winemaking enterprise, founding Casa Emanuele di Mirafiore, modernising the estate and spreading the name of Barolo across the world. After the death of Edoardo, the estate passed through various hands before entrepreneurs Oscar Farinetti and Luca Baffigo acquired it. Today it’s one of the leading producers of Barolo, and, as much as we love structured reds, the one we have fallen in love with is Ampelio. It’s made from Nascetta, an indigenous Piedmontese white grape that came close to extinction and has been carefully revived by a handful of committed producers. The wine is floral, structured and with an intriguing bitter almond finish.
6
Tenute del Cabreo: La Pietra 2023,
The Folonari family has been shaping Italian wine for nearly three centuries, and the chapter at Tenute del Cabreo begins in 1967, when Nino Folonari acquired the estate in the frazione of Zano, in Greve in Chianti. Today the estate is run by Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari, with five properties spread across Tuscany’s finest terroirs, from Chianti Classico to Bolgheri, Montalcino and the Maremma. La Pietra is the estate’s Chardonnay, an IGT Toscana of real distinction fermented and aged with care on the lees. This particular wine is elegant, with a beautiful mineral depth.
7
Feudi di San Gregorio: Cutizzi 2023
Founded in 1986 by two Irpinian families on the soft hills of Campania, Feudi di San Gregorio has been one of southern Italy’s most compelling wine stories for nearly four decades. The winery itself is worth a visit: designed by Japanese architect Hikaru Mori, with interiors by the legendary Massimo and Lella Vignelli, it has been exhibited twice as a work of architectural excellence at the Venice Biennale. The broader Borgo San Gregorio estate offers accommodation, the San Gregorio restaurant, a Wine Theater and an impressive contemporary art collection. The focus has always been on indigenous southern varieties. Cutizzi is a single-vineyard Greco di Tufo Riserva from land near the largest sulphur mine in southern Italy, whose soils give the wine a mineral hint.
