With hundreds of indigenous Italian grapes and an even greater number of Italian wines, selecting just one presents a challenge. But the reward is great. Italian wines can be as thrilling as any in the world. Plus, they are perfectly suited for food, and not just Italian food, and, for the most part, vastly underpriced given the quality and enjoyment they provide.
My approach when faced with such a vast choice of wines is to focus on one category and drink an example with lunch and dinner. So, when my wife and I, along with our two daughters and their husbands spent nine days in Rome recently, that’s what we did. We concentrated on Chianti Classico, which turned out to be an especially good choice since these well-priced, food-friendly wines are widely available in Boston and beyond.
There’s no better place to learn about Italian wine than Rome. In between lessons (meals) there are more than a few distractions (more on that below). In Rome, you can find perfectly fine wines on a restaurant’s list for 9 euros a glass or 25 euros a bottle. On our recent trip, we rarely spent more than 40 euros for a bottle. Remember, in Italy the price on the menu is the price you pay—tax and tip are already included—unlike Boston or Toronto where tax, tip, and the occasional kitchen appreciation fee can add 30 percent or more to the menu price.
First, a bit of background on Chianti Classico, which differs, and is distinct, from Chianti. Chianti Classico comprises just a portion of the broader Chianti region, a vast area of central Tuscany that encompasses land from Florence to Siena. Wines from this broader Chianti area will be labeled simply Chianti or Chianti Superiore. The latter just indicates the grapes were riper, but by no means, necessarily better. These wines typically have a charming rusticity and exuberance. Take note, within the greater Chianti region, there are eight subzones that produce more distinctive wines. Chianti Classico—considered by most to be the best—occupies the heart of the region and is certainly the most famous. Wines from here are mid-weight with a glorious combination of fruity and savory or herbal qualities. In short, they are more sophisticated than Chianti. Just the right amount of acidity imparts mouth-watering freshness. That, combined with suave tannins, make Chianti Classico perfectly suited for food.
Consumers should at least be familiar with the names of the seven other subzones of Chianti because some restauranteurs may serve them to you even when ordering Chianti Classico since they mistakenly think that they are interchangeable (or that their clients won’t know or care about the distinction). They are Chianti Rùfina (not to be confused with the Chianti Classico producer, Ruffino), Chianti Colli Fiorentini (hills around Florence), Chianti Colli Aretini (hills around Arezzo), Chianti Colli Senesi (hills around Siena), Chianti Pisane (hills around Pisa), Montespertoli, and Montalbano. Although some wines from these other subzones can be excellent, as a rule, they lack the harmony, suaveness, and finesse of those from Chianti Classico.The primary grape of Chianti Classico, as with all the red wines from the greater Chianti area and all the subzones, is Sangiovese. Often a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or the indigenous varieties, Colorino or Canaiolo, are included in the blend.
The three quality levels of Chianti Classico, annata, Riserva, and Gran Selezione, conveniently act as a guide for ordering in a restaurant. You won’t see the word annata on the label. These wines simply display a vintage alongside the moniker Chianti Classico. They are typically ready to drink shortly after they are released to the market, so look for the energetic ones from the superb 2021 vintage and the riper ones from 2020 or 2022, two other excellent vintages for current drinking. Ones labeled with Riserva or Gran Selezione are higher quality and need additional bottle aging. So, even though they are more prestigious—and ultimately will be more complex and better—be wary of ordering them for dinner unless they have a minimum of five years of bottle age. Many of these from the excellent 2019 vintage are showing beautifully now.
Unless you’re at a fancy restaurant, and not always even then, wine is taken very casually in Rome. More often than not, the vintage does not appear on the wine list. Sometimes only the region, like Chianti Classico, or the grape, like Barbera, will be listed. Frequently, what is listed bears little resemblance to reality. More than once, our first and sometimes our second choice was unavailable. On one occasion, we ordered Chianti Classico only to receive a perfectly acceptable Chianti Colli Senesi. And once we ordered a Chianti Classico only to be served a Chianti that the waiter said was just as good. Though it was fine, it was not in the same league as a Chianti Classico and reminded me of an important lesson—where the grapes grow matters.
My favorite producers of Chianti Classico include Casa Emma, Castellare di Castellina, Castello di Ama, Castello di Volpaia, Felsina, Fontodi, Lamole di Lamole, Monteraponi, Querciabella, Ruffino, Tenuta di Nozzole, and Villa Le Corti. Although these producers’ wines vary in style—some are riper, some more concentrated, some racier—I’m happy to drink any of these producers’ wines and order them with confidence when I see them on a wine list.
There are scores of other excellent producers of Chianti Classico, so ask your local wine merchant for recommendations and experiment. Buy three or four from the same year, invite some friends, order pizza, and see whose you like the best.
Dining is Rome is a delight and a highlight of any trip. Wine bars are an ideal choice for a lighter lunch. Typically, they serve a dazzling array of charcuterie (salumi, in Italian), cheese, marinated antipasti, and sometimes simple pasta. They invariably will offer an excellent selection of wine by the glass (calice). Three of my favorites are Cul de Sac, conveniently located near the Piazza Navona, Il Gocetto, in a bustling neighborhood good for shopping, and the several locations of VyNique, one of which sits on the Piazza Farnese, just off the Campo de’ Fiori, and faces the Palazzo Farnese (now the French Embassy), the façade of which was designed by Michelangelo. It doesn’t get much better than sitting outside there, staring at the Palazzo, and sipping a supple and racy 2019 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione from Lamole di Lamole!
For restaurants, we opted for informal with typically Roman cuisine, which made packing easier—no sports jackets, just casual attire. The traditional Roman dishes of artichokes, either carciofi alla giudia (fried) or alla romana (braised in olive oil), spaghetti or other pasta forms with carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, or alla gricia appear on every menu. Yet, each restaurant has its own interpretation which means ordering any one of these four Roman classics repeatedly is definitely not boring. Quite the contrary. Andy, one of my sons-in-law, perhaps echoing my advice to concentrate on one type of wine, ordered pasta amatriciana at virtually every meal, and even once as a pizza topping! He confirmed the universal enjoyment despite the vast variation in preparation.
Restaurants are used to tourists so English menus abound and most waitstaff speak it as well. Roman food is unique, uniformly good, and inexpensive. Traditional pasta dishes, which can be large enough to split, run about 15 euros. We went overboard with antipasti, pastas, sometimes seven of them for the six of us, truffles whenever they were available, the occasional secondo (main course), the sporadic desert, multiple bottles of wine, and bottled water, yet rarely went over 300 euros for the six of us.
A trip to Rome would not be complete without pizza. Dar Poeta in Trastevere or Emma in the center of town offer a stellar array—shaved fresh truffles at Emma—in a sit-down setting. Pizza sold by weight, not the slice, is a good and quick lunch. At Forno, a bustling and crowded bakery in the Campo de’ Fiori, you wait in line, survey the offerings of large rectangular pizzas, point to one, and indicate how much you want. The counter person will cut it, weigh it, wrap in paper and hand it to you. You pay as you leave. A bar across the way, Drunken Ship, encourages you to eat your pizza at their tables provided you purchase something to drink. At Antico Forno Roscioli, the line is typically longer, the process is the same, but the pizza is better. Roscioli also has fabulous porchetta, (a stuffed savory rolled pork loin) another Roman specialty, a slice of which they serve between two slices of pillowy focaccia. The downside at Roscioli is finding a place to sit outside since they don’t offer table service.
At restaurants, the six of us ordered extensively, rarely duplicating dishes to get a thorough appreciation of the restaurant’s repertoire. Based on our experience I can heartily recommend the restaurants below.
My not-to-miss list of dishes include a light and creamy rigatoni carbonara at Perilli a Testaccio and several blocks away, at Piatto Romano, succulent and perfectly grilled baby lamb chops. At Le Mani in Pasta in Trastevere a briny seafood spaghetti followed a perfectly dressed mixed seafood salad antipasti that could easily serve four. At Matricianella, certainly one of my favorite restaurants in the center of Rome, a waiter wouldn’t allow Gus, my other son-in-law, to order rigatoni with an ox tail sauce, insisting instead that he get the amatriciana. Excellent advice! At Emma, in addition to the abovementioned truffle pizza, inventive appetizers of soups—a savory chickpea and a suave and creamy tomato parmesan—ensure that I will make a reservation there for dinner the next time I’m in Rome. For the best carciofi alla giudia, head to Giggetto in the Jewish quarter—after I finished my first, I immediately ordered another one! Settimio All’Arancio serves inventive and feathery seafood pasta. There, briny and distinct shrimp flavors burst from each bite of pasta despite the absence of visible shrimp. Reservations are not accepted at A42, a tiny, self-described experimental restaurant in the trendy Monti neighborhood. So, either line up there at 12:15, just before the opening at 12:30, or be prepared to wait. The limited menu changes frequently, but we found the food uniformly delicious. You order at a counter, find a seat, and pick up your food as it emerges from the kitchen. Half bottles of a Chianti Classico were 10 euros!
Reservations are essential at wine bars and restaurants for both lunch and dinner, though you’re likely to be able just to walk into a wine bar between 5 and 7 PM for an aperitivo, what is advertised as “Spritz o’clock.”
Rome promises many “distractions” between meals. There’s no sense cataloging the famous ones: the Pantheon, Colosseum, The Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Saint Peter’s, and the Spanish Steps, to mention just a few. This being a Jubilee Year, Rome is even more crowded than usual, which means booking tickets on-line, in advance, is critical and will you save time and avoid disappointment. One day, the non-ticket-holder line to enter the Colosseum nearly circled the monument! The advantage of the Jubilee Year to non-Catholics is that many lesser-known—but no less beautiful—churches are open, often for extended hours. It’s worth dropping into random churches to admire the marble, sculptures, ceilings, and exquisite paintings. For Tik Tok users—and others—many churches have set-up large rectangular mirrors on the floor so you can capture a selfie without breaking your neck. I always remember advice given to me by an Italian friend when entering a church: Don’t, by any means, forget to look at the floor and the ceiling!
There are plenty of stunning distractions devoid of crowds, even during this Jubilee Year. At the Baths of Caracalla, a short 12-euro taxi ride out of central Rome, you’ll find enormous remnants of colossal baths, colorful 2,000-year old mosaics, and few people. Closer in town, across from Stazione Termini, Rome’s main train station, are the less expansive, but no less impressive Diocletian Baths. For his last architectural achievement, Michelangelo, at age 86, designed the eye-popping adjoining church, Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, that he repurposed from the baths, which explains the enormous size of the painted and marble Baroque interior. Inexplicably, both times I’ve visited, there were few people.
Definitely schedule a guided visit, in English, to the Domus Aurea, Nero’s former palace and a stone’s throw from the Colosseum. The guides are excellent, the group small, and the walk through history aided by virtual reality, is breath-taking. https://www.museumsrome.com/en/other-attractions-rome/domus-aurea-guided-tour.
The Baroque wall and ceiling decorations alone should make Doria Phamphilj palace, another lesser-known gem of a museum located on Via del Corso, reason enough to visit. Paintings by Caravaggio, of course, and Veláquez, among others, and sculptures by Bernini add to its allure. The family is occasionally in residence, but when they are away, you can add a brief tour of their private rooms. The marbled bath off the bedroom is exceptional. https://www.doriapamphilj.it/en/rome/
Be sure to keep your eyes open for exhibitions advertised on the street because the venue itself is often worth the price of admission. Anything showing at the Palazzo Bonaparte, in the center of Rome, for example, is worth seeing just to admire and gasp at the rooms—and the famous balcony—at the home of Napoleon’s mother. https://palazzobonaparte.it/palace.html
Taxis are in short supply, Uber is unreliable, and the subway does not penetrate the center of old Rome because every time they attempt a new tunnel, the archeologists call a halt since they invariably hit ruins. So, be prepared to walk, frequently on cobblestoned streets.
But walking around Rome is one of the delights of a visit. Where else do you see marble curbs! Thousand-year-old columns appear out of nowhere and are incorporated into contemporary buildings, such as the Teatro Marcello. When tired, stop for a gelato with or without whipped cream at Giolitti, the best in the city, or grab a coffee granita con panna (shaved ice infused with coffee and topped with whipped cream) at Tazza d’Oro, or an espresso at Sant’Eustachio Caffé or any of the scores of cafés that spill onto the street.
Some practical suggestions: Reserve at restaurants for both lunch and dinner. Buy tickets in advance, even at the last minute because you’ll avoid the longer non-ticket holder line. When paying by credit card the merchant frequently offers the option of paying in euros or dollars. Be sure to select euros. Otherwise, you will incur an additional 3.5 percent foreign conversion fee, even if your bank says your card has no foreign exchange fees. Pack sturdy, comfortable shoes or sneakers.
If you have a week, my advice is to spend it all in Rome and avoid the temptation to try to “do” both Rome and Florence. Each city deserves plenty of time.
Michael Apstein MD has written about wine for over three decades. He received a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award in 2000 and was nominated again in 2004 and 2006. In 2008, he won the Les Grands Jours de Bourgogne Press Trophy and in 2010, he was nominated for the prestigious Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards. Dr. Apstein is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Division of Gastroenterology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He lectures and writes frequently about wine and health and judges frequently at international and national wine competitions.