Albana italian grapes has been grown in the northern region, Emilia-Romagna, since the 13th century. It is also found in the vineyards of Liguria, Lombardy and Tuscany. All together, Italy harvests about 30 million kilos of Albana grapes each year.
Albana di Romagna DOCG is in southeast Emilia-Romagna. It gained its DOCG status in 1987 and is Emilia-Romagna’s only DOCG zone. Albana di Romagna DOCG is smooth and crisp with a hint of nuttiness.
Though it carries the prestigious title, there are experts who question its high rank as a DOCG zone. The reason for this is that Albana wines, including Albana di Romagna DOCG, tend to be of extreme variable quality and are rarely considered great.
The Albana italian grapes is very versatile and is utilized to produce all styles of wine including amabile, dry, passito, spumante, and sweet wines. Its best example is as a rich, sweet passito from partly dried italian grapes. Albana is also known as Biancame, Greco di Ancona and Greco. It is not, however, related to the true Greco variety.
It is thought that the Aleatico italian grapes is a member of the Muscat family. This theory was conceived because of the flowery characteristics, but then disproved due to the deep colored wines. There are no known dark Muscat mutations that maintain these characteristics. Aleatico is also called Agliano, Alliance, Moscatello and Muscateller.
The Arneis italian grapes was almost extinct in Italy due of low yields, but has seen a resurgence in the past decade. It was originally planted, not for its wine-yielding, but rather to attract bees and other insects away from the more valuable Nebbiolo italian grapes of Barolo and Barbaresco.