Italian Wine Trivia Quiz

Answer: Amarone

Amarone is made from the Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes. It involves one of the most complex wine-making processes used in vinification and the aging is necessarily long. Due to its strong taste it needs dishes that can compete for the taste buds, like heavily-seasoned meats, game, or strong, mature cheese.
Amaretto is an Italian almond-flavoured liqueur made from apricot and/or almond pits.
Amaretti are macaroon biscuits from Lombardy.
Amatriciana is a pasta sauce made from pork cheek, ewe's cheese and tomatoes, originally from the town of Amatrice, in the Lazio region. If you eat it in Rome, it'll have lots of onions too.

Answer: Barolo

Barolo is a heavy red wine made from the Nebbiolo grape grown in clayish soil. It goes well with red meats. The village has a population of less than 1,000.
Marco Borriello is an Italian footballer (striker) who has played for Roma, Milan, Sampdoria, Genoa and the national team.
Bagnomaria, (bain-marie in French) is a method of cooking things gently to avoid burning, and sometimes refers to the piece of equipment needed.
Bardolino is an Italian town on the coast of Lake Garda, and a wine from the same area.

Answer: Cannonau

Cannonau is made all over the island of Sardinia, but the actual wine changes less than the name on the label, which might read Cannonao, Cannonadu or Canonau. Cannonau is the most common spelling.
Cannelloni is a type of stuffed pasta.
Canaletto is how Venetian painter Giovanni Antonio Canal is more commonly known. His main patrons were English, and he lived in England for almost ten years, painting many views of London, although his views of Venice are what he's known for.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria is a Sicilian red wine from the Ragusa area. If you asked for Cerasuolo in Abruzzo, you'd get a rosé wine.

Answer: Dolcetto

The Dolcetto grape is widely grown in the Piedmont region, but not generally considered as highly as the Nebbiolo or Barbera grapes, and the wine is a much lighter, cheaper, easy-drinking affair than other Piedmont wines. While it is suitable for any meal, it gets lost with strong flavours, such as gamey meat.
Dolce & Gabbana make fashionable clothes.
Domodossola is an Italian town in Piedmont and is used, by Italians, to clarify spelling, as in "D for Domodossola". Delta is used internationally to identify the letter d.
Dolmades is a Greek stuffed vegetable dish.

Answer: Franciacorta

Franciacorta is made in the Brescia area. Although there are both red and white varieties, only the white has DOC (Controlled Designation of Origin) status.
Frascati is an Italian white wine made from Trebbiano, Greco and Malvasia grapes in the Lazio region.
Franco is a popular Italian first name (short for Francesco), and was how Spanish dictator Francisco Franco y Bahamonde is/was commonly known.
Fantozzi is a comedy character who has featured in a number of Italian films, predominantly in the 1970s. He is known for his neverending bad luck, but also for being spineless and lecherous.

Answer: Greco di Tufo

Greco di Tufo is one of the few Italian white wines that ages well. It goes well with seafood, but also mild cheese. In Calabria the same grape, Greco, is used to make Greco di Bianco.
Gabibbo is a strange mascot on for an Italian private TV company. It's a man-sized, red, oval-headed thing that speaks a strange language only his co-hosts seem to understand, but is instantly recognizable to virtually all Italians.
Artemisia Gentileschi was a 17th-century Florentine painter, and the first female to become a member of the prestigious Accademia di Arte in Florence.
Gattinara is a red Italian wine with DOCG status from Piedmont.

Answer: Lacryma Christi

The name Lacryma Christi comes from the Neapolitan legend that Christ's tears fell on the volcano's slopes, making the soil extremely fertile. He was saddened by the Devil's fall from heaven. It has a long and distinguished past, being mentioned by Dumas in "The Count of Monte Cristo", by Christopher Marlowe in "Tamburlaine the Great". It also put in an appearance in the film "Three Coins in the Fountain", Prince Dino di Cessi's favourite drink.
Lambrusco is a light, easy-drinking and often fizzy red or rosé wine mostly produced in the Emilia-Romagna region.
Lagavulin is a single malt whisky made on the island of Islay, Scotland.
Livorno is an Italian port town in Tuscany, known in English as Leghorn.

Answer: Morellino

Morellino is from Scansano, Tuscany. The origin of the name is widely disputed, but many locals claim it comes from Maremmano horses. Like many Tuscan reds, it is made mostly from the Sangiovese grape.
Moto Guzzi is an Italian make of motorcycle.
Molise is an Italian region which borders Abruzzo, Lazio, Apulia and Campania.
Marsala is a fortified wine made in the environs of the Sicilian city of the same name.

Answer: Naturalis historia

Naturalis Historia is an encyclopedia and the only existent work by Pliny the Elder. He didn't quite finish it as he was rudely interrupted by Vesuvius erupting and killing him. It's regarded as a model for all later encyclopedias. The wine named after it is made with 100% Aglianico grapes. One vintner describes it as "enveloping, warm, smooth and perfectly structured with a characteristic background of plum, bitter cherry, raspberry and strawberry jam".
Nabucco is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi.
'Nduja is a spicy, spreadable pork sausage from Calabria loosely based on the French Andouille recipe. It's pretty fiery, and superb served with mature cheese and robust red wine.
Naturales quaestiones is an encyclopedia by Seneca around 65 AD. It lacks the range and depth of Pliny's work.

Answer: Prosecco

Prosecco is a sparkling white wine made in the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. It's sometimes referred to as a "poor-man's Champagne", much to the chagrin of the Italians. It is undeniably much cheaper to produce due to the way it's fermented, thus making it cheaper to buy, but the insinuation that it's of lower quality is what riles.
Profiteroles are a kind of cream puff, probably originating in France.
Romano Prodi has served as Italian Prime Minister and President of the European Commission.
Primitivo is a red wine produced in the Apulia region made with a variety of the Croatian Crljenak Kastelanski grape.

Answer: Ramandolo

Ramandolo is made with the Verduzzo Giallo grape, which is not found anywhere else in the world. It contains a greater degree of tannin than other white grapes, meaning the wine is made as if it were a red wine, and the sweetness is balanced out. It is very good with Gorgonzola cheese, San Daniele ham, ripe figs, and the local Uessuz biscuits.
Radicchio, also known as Italian chicory, is a bitter tasting vegetable that can be eaten cooked or raw.
Retsina is a Greek wine that contains resin, giving it a unique flavour.
Ricotta is an Italian dairy product, that is used in both savory dishes and desserts.

Answer: Soave

Soave is made in Verona area, mainly from the Garganega grape,although Pinot bianco, Verdicchio and Chardonnay are also used.
Sopressa is an Italian salami, made in the Veneto.
Schiopettino is a red from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy, and just over the border in Slovenia. The grape nearly died out partly due to an epidemic, partly due to farmers preferring to plant easier varieties. It's an unsung hero of Italian reds.
Salò is a town near Brescia, Lombardy that was the capital of Mussolini's Italian Social Republic, and the name of a controversial film directed by Pasolini which mixes together the themes of the short-lived Fascist Republic, and "The 120 Days of Sodom" by the Marquis de Sade. Pasolini was murdered before it was even released.

Answer: Taurasi

Taurasi is a feisty red from Campania. It is believed that the volcanic soil is what gives the Aglianico grape the extra zest that makes Taurasi so special. It's not widely known, even in Italy, but many connoisseurs rate it amongst Italy's best reds.
Francesco Totti is a footballer known for his captaincy of Roma and his pivotal role in Italy's winning the 2006 World Cup.
Teroldego Rotaliano is a red wine from the Trentino region in the north.
Tarantella is an Italian folk dance. In Taranto, Apulia, legend has it that the frenzied dance is a way of purging oneself of the poison from a spider (the tarantula) bite.

Answer: Vernaccia

The term Vernaccia actually comes from the word "vernacular", probably meaning "local". Thus there are many wines called Vernaccia made with all kinds of grapes, as it just means "local wine". Vernaccia di San Gimignano, made with the white Vernaccia grape, is what people think of when they hear the name. It was the first Italian wine to get the DOC(Controlled Designation of Origin) status.
Valpolicella is a winemaking area near Verona that produces a huge amount of wine, and indeed wines.
Luchino Visconti was an Italian Count and a director, known for his films "The Leopard" and "Death In Venice".
Vermicelli is a type of pasta. The name translates as the very appetising "little worms".

Answer: Zibbibo

Zibibbo is a strong wine similar to Marsala but without the addition of spirits. The origins of making Zibibbo go back to the Middle Ages, the grapes being partially fermented in the sun. The Zibibbo grape is similar to Moscato.
Zero Branco is a small town near Treviso, in the Veneto.
Gianfranco Zola is a retired Sardinian footballer. He played alongside Diego Maradona at Napoli, and later for Chelsea, where he was voted their greatest ever player. His namesake, Émile Zola, was a French naturalist writer, most famous for "Les Rougon-Macquart", a cycle of twenty novels revolving around a fictional French extended family from the late 18th century to the late 19th century. Zola's father was Italian, his original name being spelt Zolla, meaning sod or lump, something down-to-earth Émile was apparently very proud of.
Zabaione is a dessert made with egg yolk and sweet wine.