When I was a student, wine was something we bought strictly on the basis of price. The cheaper it was, the more likely we were to buy it. There were choices out there all right; Hirondelle, litre bottles of Nicolas and lots of Valpolicella and Soave. (There was also my father's cellar, but he tended to keep that locked.) Because only the worst Italian wines arrived in Ireland to fill the cheap end of the market, the result was that everyone in Ireland learnt that Italian wines were cheap and nasty, simply because that's all that was available. It took until the next century to get over this prejudice, and even I am still wary of Soaves and Valpolicellas of the more common or garden variety.

But thankfully things have changed. Italy still produces more wine than any other nation, so it's not surprising to discover that amongst its myriad diversities there are exceptional wines. The problem is, as with most things in Italy, nothing is clear and simple. Just when you thought that DOC on a bottle, or even DOCG, was an indicator on a par with the French AC, you find that it's not always the case. In Tuscany some of the finest wines have the appellation 'vino da tavola', the lowest denomination of all. The reason is that some of the best growers have opted out of the system in order to use the cabernet sauvignon grape, which isn't allowed in the Tuscan DOC rules. Wines like Sassicaia, Sammarco and Tignanello are examples of this. Wonderful wines and very expensive, but with the 'table wine' denomination. This kind of wine has earned the epithet 'Super Tuscan'.

The denominated areas, like Chianti, are as much of a minefield as anything else. Chianti can come from the hills of Pisa, an awfully long way from its 'Classico' heartland around Greve, and Pisan Chianti can be very different from Florentine. If you like one, there's no guarantee that you'd like the other. Outside the better-known areas exciting things are happening. South of Rome, once an oenological desert except for rough, peasant wine, is now undergoing something of a rinascimento. Mastroberardino, just outside Naples, are making wonderful wines, the Salento peninsula is making its mark with wines like Salice Salentino and Primitivo. Even the fine wine wasteland that was my valley now has a new DOC of 'Atina', made from the cabernet sauvignon grapes that have been grown there for 150 years.

One man who has made it his business to specialise in Italian wines is Joe Karwig from Carrigaline in Cork. Over the years Joe has built up a list that includes wines from all over Italy - not just the well-known areas - some of which are exceptional. If you have the urge to explore wines from beyond the usual areas, he's a good place to start your trek from. And if you want to read about Italian wines, there is no better guide than Burton Anderson's' aptly named book, 'Vino'.

Wine of the Week

Castellovecchio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 1999 Farnese

This is a good example of the new style of Southern Italian wine-making. The Abruzzi, in central Southern Italy, is also going through a wine boom with many good producers like Farnese and Tollo getting increasing recognition. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a full-bodied red with an intense flavour. Goes well with strongly- flavoured foods.

Available from Karwig Wines and Molloys off-licenses at approx. £8.