Southern Italy including Sicily

The South of Italy has been smouldering for decades in the shadow of the great wine regions of the North and Tuscany but now it's coming of age.

With hundreds of local grape varieties, a focus upon driving up wine quality and an environment well suited to making wines in tune with the modern wine drinkers palate, the sunny South has much to offer.

On the flat plains of Puglia black grape varieties such as Primitivo thrive in the hot, dry conditions producing fuity wines with great richness and depth. In Basilicata the black grape Aglianico challenges Nebbiolo for the crown of Italy's greatest black grape producing incredibly concentrated yet well structured wines on the rugged slopes of Mt Vulture. We'll show you just how good these wines can be.

In Campania the villages on the volcanic soils of Avellino Province grow the Greco grape and we'll explain how the unique combination of soil and altitude produce piercingly fresh, dry white wines such as Greco di Tufo.

Volcanic soils are also a feature of the Sicilian wine landscape and vineyards planted on the slopes of Mount Etna are now some of the hottest wine real estate in the world. Have you tried a Nerello Mascalese? 

A selection of the wines will be served with cheese and cured meat to show how well they pair with food.