Up in the North-east corner of Italy is the Veneto, a region that roughly approximates to the historical hinterland of the Republic of Venice. Some of Italy's best known wines come from this region: Prosecco, Amarone, Valpolicella, Soave and Bianco di Custoza. But the Veneto also produces a lot of wine, in some years even surpassing the Emilia-Romagna in the volume of its production. The Veneto has everything, not just quantity and quality, but diversity as well. This region produces not only red and white wine, but the amber coloured whites of Custoza, sparkling wines like Prosecco, hill wines, valley wines, dry wines and sweet wines and it makes more varietals than any other region in Italy.

It has also been in the vanguard of innovation, some of Italy's most modern wineries are here and the region is better organised than most when it comes to marketing as well. Apart from carefully made artisan wines, the region is home to many house-hold names like Lamberti and Zonin, who make good, decent reasonably priced wines that are sold in large bottles in the supermarkets of Italy and Germany.

Somewhere in everyone's history of wine drinking Soave and Valpolicella have made their mark. The very cheap and nasty Soaves and Valpols of twenty years ago have left many people with the impression that they have tasted all they need to taste of these wines. It's a pity, because both of these wines are made in good versions as well as in bad, and these days the worst excesses of the worst producers are thin on the ground. Producers like Masi have pushed standards relentlessly upwards and even mass-produced Veronese wines are today dependable and reliable. In this eastern part of the Veneto, between Verona and Lake Garda, other well-known wines are made, such as Bardolino. This is vinified to be to render a light-bodied, refreshing wine, made to be drunk young.

Valpolicella is a bigger wine than Bardolino with a higher minimum alcohol requirement. At its best, when it's a superiore and a classico, it approaches the depth and complexity of Chianti. But the biggest wine of all Italy is its cousin, the Recioto del Amarone, which can reach an impressive 17 degrees. All these well-known wines from the Veneto are made from much the same mixture of grapes: roughly 5/8 Corvina, 1/4 Rondinella and 1/8 Molinara.

Wine of the Week

Terre in Fiore, Corvina, 2001

This wine is made entirely from the Corvina grape, a grape that is native to and commonly planted in the Veneto. It forms the backbone of many of the Veneto's reds, but here it is allowed to speak for itself. It produces a wine that can be described as 'hearty' or 'robust', in the sense that its strong in taste and colour. It has the same kind of flavour as many of the artisan wines of the region, wines that we once called 'peasant' wines. Slightly peppery on the palate, this would go well with a spicy pasta or a strong cheese.

Available O'Briens off-licenses. RRP €8.99, on sale until 10th March at €6.29