Like food, wine plays a very important role in Italy’s commerce and culture. Mangiare (eating) together is a fundamental part of Italian social life, and whether you’re at a restaurant or someone’s house, a bottiglia (bottle) of wine is always on the table.
The word for wine in Italian is vino (masculine, plural vini).
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As you can imagine, there are lots of different types of wine. Here are some common names:
- vino rosso = red wine
- vino bianco = white wine
- vino cotto = dense and sweet wine, also used for cooking
- vino drogato / aromatizzato = seasoned wine
- vino giovane = young wine
- vino vecchio = old wine
- vino passito = straw / raisin wine
Di vino cosa vogliamo ordinare? – Beh, con la carne bisogna bere il vino rosso!
Which wine do we want to order? – Well, we need to drink red wine with meat!
The term vino is also used for alcoholic drinks extracted from fermented fruit other than grapes, and also special plants:
- vino di mele = wine of apples (cider, also sidro in Italian)
- vino di palma = palm wine
- vino di riso = rice wine (sake)
If you pour some water into your glass of wine to make it less strong, your friends will tease you by saying that you’ve “baptised the wine“:
Guarda Carlo, sta battezzando il vino!
Look at Carlo, he’s watering down the wine!
In certain cases, the o of vino is dropped with adjectives that begin with a consonant:
- vin dolce = sweet wine
- vin greco = Greek wine
- vin santo = holy wine
- vin brulé = hot wine (you can also say vino caldo)
Vino can become an adjective to describe the colour of red wine.
Margherita indossa un bellissimo vestito rosso vino.
Margherita is wearing a beautiful red dress.
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Idioms with the word ‘vino‘
There are various idioms based on the noun vino, and as you can imagine, many refer to when we drink a little bit too much of it!
Reggere il vino
- meaning: to hold the wine
- equivalent: to hold one’s liquor
Nella botte piccola c’è il vino buono
- literal: in the small barrel there is good wine
- equivalent: good things come in small packages
Buon vino fa buon sangue
- literal: good wine makes good blood
- equivalent: good wine makes good cheer
Avere il vino allegro
- literal: to have the happy wine
- meaning: to be in a euphoric state when drunk
Amico e vino vogliono essere vecchi
- literal: friend and wine want to be old
- meaning: friendship gets better with age, like wine
Consumare più vino che olio
- literal: to consume more wine than oil
- meaning: to be a drinker
Dire pane al pane e vino al vino
- literal: to say bread to bread and wine to wine
- meaning: to say things as they are, to be frank
Levare il vino dai fiaschi
- literal: to remove the wine from the wine bottle
- meaning: to clarify something
Mathieu Gasquet was born and raised in Turin in the north of Italy to an Italian mother and a French father. He provides the audio pronunciation for Daily Italian Words.