Editor's note: Perfectly made and aged wines remain in your memory for years. Says Maggie Beale. But what about fresh wines made to be drunk immediately?

Contrary to commercial wines, fresh wines are meant to be drunk within weeks - or at most within a year - of being made. And Italy has perfected the art of making perfect summer wines, especially in the north.

In appearance, the wines are usually white: but that isn't always the case. If the liquid is separated from the skins as soon as it's crushed, the result will be white wine - irrespective of the original colour of the grapes. If the must (juice) is left in contact with the skins, it will take colour - a short few hours are all that's needed for some of the light summery reds made all over Italy.

Differences in any wines stem from 'terroir', that elusive yet crucial combination of things: soil, climate, grape type, vineyard techniques, winemaker's expertise and the indefinable term 'air' - meaning the character of the place. In most countries, it is forbidden to use artificial flavours to change the character of grape wine, but the terms are used to identify the natural flavours of the wine; vanilla, chocolate, cherry, pepper, liquorice or spicy. It gives drinkers a common, and easily understood reference when describing a wine.

Experienced wine tasters often notice the personality of the maker in the wine, and some can recognise the difference between wine made by a man or a woman when tasting a glass of wine 'blind', tasting without ever seeing the label or indeed the bottle.

Oddly, when inexperienced people taste with their eyes shut they rarely can discern the colour of the wine, (try it!).

White wines can have just as much to offer as red, both in strength and in character. Some of the best white wines from the north of Italy come from Piedmont, and also from Veneto - specifically Verona the town of Romeo and Juliet. And from Soave with its fairy-tale castle or from Valpolicella, a peaceful green valley strewn with countless family wineries.

Rome's region is historically linked with whites wines, which account for more than 90 percent of production. Frascati leads with light whites from the Malvasia grape, which, when blended with Trebbiano makes the legendary Est! Est! Est! di Montefiascone. It's a soft, rounded wine grown around a crater lake in Bolsena - the water of the lake is so pure you can drink straight from it.

In the south of the country, the most sought after summer wines is a flower-scented Malvasia. The original vines were planted around 1,400 years ago. And the wine is still a favorite.

There are over a million licensed wineries in Italy, almost all make wine to go with food. There are two styles: light, fresh and fruity, and the long-lasting type with deep flavour and austerity that needs time to soften.

Wines have a long history in Italy going right back to the Etruscans (circa 8th to 3rd centuries BC) and handsome kylix, two-handled pottery wine cups decorated with drinking scenes, dating back to the 5th century BC have been uncovered in Tuscany.

In Tuscany, the Frescobaldi property has been making wine since the 1300s. One of their white wines, Marchesi di Frescobaldi Pomino Bianco Benefizio is complex with spicy aromas of honey, ripe bananas and vanilla.

Vines that have to search and strive for water underground produce the most intense juice, resulting in wines of great character. This type of wine is also produced at Castello Banfi, situated in the DOCG area of Brunello di Montalcino just north of towering Monte Amiata. The mountain shelters the vineyards making them the driest in the region and ideal for producing lush, richly redolent wines.

Today's state-of-the-art cellars and sophisticated equipment produce quality wines that retain their integrity and travel well. They are the backbone of the Italian wine industry, but the fresh young wines produced as they have been for hundreds of years are what most people enjoy - and remember from their summer holidays there.

Maggie Beale can be contacted at: wineexpert1@hotmail.com

(HK Edition 05/13/2008 page2)