I once visited Italy for a wine competition. In preparation, I read a 300-page book on Italian wines and wrote down the name of every one of them -- only to find a dozen wines I'd never heard of once I arrived.

As Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson put it in ther World Atlas of Wine, ``Italy has the richest variety of individual wine styles, local climates and, most importantly, indigenous grape varieties of all the world's wine producers.''

Some would argue that the country's finest wines come from Piedmont, the chilly, foggy, high-altitude region in the foothills of the Alps, where barolo is made of the native nebbiolo grape. (The name comes from the Piedmontese word nebbia, which means ``fog.'')

The barolos of yore could be austere, tannic and alcoholic, requiring years of aging to mellow into the elegant aromas and flavors of tar and roses. Today, winemakers grow them riper, with softer tannins, but they're still powerful wines that go with roast beef, roast goose and wild game.

Barberas, made in Piedmont of the barbera grape, are also powerful, lower in tannin but high in acid, tasting like black raspberries, so they pair well with pasta and other dishes with tomato-based sauces.

Dolcettos, made of the dolcetto grape, are lighter in body, crisp with acid, tasting like black cherries or plums. They go well with grilled steaks, other red meats and dark-basted Thanksgiving turkeys.

Trentino, the high-altitude, cool-climate region in northeastern Italy, makes pinot grigio, perhaps the country's fastest-growing white wine. Maso Canali has been making it since 1893, but it has only recently been adopted by Americans seeking alternatives to chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

In northern Tuscany and on the island of Sardinia, wine lovers find little-known grape called vermentino. It's light-bodied, crisp and very dry, a great wine for seafood.

All this is only the beginning of Italy's bounteous harvest. So if you visit Italian wine country -- which means pretty much the entire country -- be sure to take a good wine atlas.

HIGHLY

RECOMMENDED

• 2008 Guado al Tasso Vermentino, Bolgheri DOC: citrus blossom aromas; medium body, with flavors of citrus and minerals; very dry; intensely fruity and crisp; $25.

• 2004 Boroli Barolo DOCG, Piedmont: hints of oak and earth, with rich, concentrated black-currant aromas and flavors; warm with alcohol; a powerful wine that improves with age; $51.

RECOMMENDED

• 2007 Boroli ``Quattro Fratelli'' Barbera d'Alba, DOC, Piedmont: aromas and flavors of black raspberries and vanilla; $18.

• 2006 Boroli ``Madonna di Como'' Dolcetto d'Alba, DOC, Piedmont: deep floral aromas, black cherry flavors, smooth, easy-drinking; $17.

• 2008 Maso Canali Pinot Grigio, Trentino: aromas of white flowers; light and bright with lemon-lime flavors and crisp acids, made richer by the addition of 8 percent chardonnay grapes; $23.

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