Fiano Italian  grape varietal, has become my go to wine over the summer months, its a fresh easy drinking style, and can be minerally and steely, or lush and rich, somewhat like a Viognier. A perfect wine for aperitivo time. Its been grown in Italy commercially since the 70’s mainly in Compania and also Sicily, Puglia and Tuscany. The name Fiano may have derived from the town Lapio, which was known as Appia. It is also known as Latino in some places. As well as a dry style, they also air dry the grapes to produce a late harvest luscious sweet style

We are now seeing Fiano more frequently  here in Australia, where similar growing conditions to that of Italy prevail. The Italian winemakers here favour it as well, so look out for this variety from Victoria, especially the King Valley and the Alpine Valley.

I hope to be trying a few more over the next few weeks as I travel to meet with some of the Italian winemakers and those vignerons growing Italian varietals . The Mcpherson Bella Luna Fiano is well worth a look. Currently my benchmark Fiano available here is Australia. Click here for more info.

To read more on the Wine Regions of Sicily click here