The Best Wines According to the Italian Sommelier Association

The main objective of AIS is to "promote knowledge and responsible consumption of wines and other alcoholic beverages." The publication of an Italian wine guide, developed and edited by a committee of expert sommeliers, serves this purpose. Since the 2016 vintage, the Vitae guide has been created, the result of extensive work in tasting and evaluating Italian wines from every region. The most interesting aspect of this guide concerns the highlighting of the best wine productions, which are assigned a symbol according to this scale:

• 4 GRAPEVINES / over 91 points / excellent stylistic and organoleptic profile
• 3-4 G. / 89 to 90 points / excellent profile on the verge of excellence
• 3 G. / 85 to 89 points / excellent stylistic and organoleptic profile
• 2 G. / 80 to 84 points / good stylistic and organoleptic profile
• 1 G. / 75 to 79 points / decent stylistic and organoleptic profile

To offer an exhaustive and as complete a picture as possible of the vast Italian landscape, over 15,000 wines, produced by approximately 2,000 wineries, are presented each year. These are significant and very important numbers, achieved through extensive work in study, discovery, and tasting.

The tasted samples are evaluated based on various parameters, grouped into three different phases of tasting: visual, olfactory, and gustatory-olfactory. Those samples that, in addition to demonstrating consistency between the various tasting phases, also revealed an excellent qualitative level, perfectly meet the parameter defined by the concept of harmony. According to this concept, a tasting can be defined as: not very harmonious / fairly harmonious / harmonious. In the latter case, we are faced with an excellence that deserves to exceed 91 points on a hundred-point scale.

Being assigned by professional sommeliers, the awards published in the guide are very authoritative and attract the interest of enthusiasts and sector operators. Every year, thousands of producers eagerly await the previews and the release of the guide to discover which wine expressions have made it onto the podium of Italian excellences according to the most famous, historic, and well-known Italian sommelier association.

The Excellences of AIS 4 Grapevines

The Vitae guide, published annually in autumn, awards expressions from every Italian region; whether produced by large and prestigious wineries such as Antinori winery or by small, still little-known producers. The charm of the Italian wine landscape lies mainly in its variety, understood as the difference and alternation of regions, terroirs, native grape varieties, microclimates, and productions. Every Italian region is reviewed in the guide, and each page is dedicated to a different producer, respecting alphabetical order. In addition to an introductory paragraph dedicated to the presentation of the winery, the reviewed labels report the assigned score, expressed with the grapevine symbols, and are described in their visual, olfactory, and gustatory qualities, with a final pairing suggestion.

Not only great champions like Brunello di Montalcino, Amarone, Barolo, or Franciacorta can reach the maximum score, but also less known and celebrated types, with a more recent history; to name a few: Primitivo di Manduria, Aglianico, Nero di Troia, Lambrusco, Teroldego, etc… In the 2019 edition, a Trebbiano Romagnolo was awarded for the first time, a grape variety once considered minor and now re-evaluated. It has in fact shown that it can yield great white wines if interpreted correctly and vinified in the best way. The guide is not limited to awarding excellences with the Four Grapevines symbol, but can also assign three other symbols that have attracted great interest among enthusiasts:

• Arrow symbol: expressions of intense emotional value that aroused love at first sip during tasting
• Piggy Bank symbol: labels that express exemplary productive value in relation to their selling prices (i.e., good value for money)
• Tastevin symbol: expressions that have contributed to a production turning point in their region of origin, becoming undisputed reference models

On Callmewine you can find a wide selection of the best bottles awarded with 4 Grapevines by AIS, available online at a special price. Discover all the labels awarded by the Italian Sommelier Association.