Upon entering a grocery store, wine shop or any wine retail outlet, the imports section is always the most confusing, and the Italian wine section makes you scratch your head. If you just see Chianti and pinot grigio, you’re in a bad shop – go to the exit.

The Italian wine world is confusing because it is complex. With several thousand years of wine-making history, numerous grape varietals and diverse terrior, the Italians grow all the French, Spanish and German varietals, plus California zinfandel, which is called primitivo, as well as their own grapes. But hidden in this confusion are great wines that are true treasures; they linger and love your palate.

One of the most confusing wines in Italy is Montepulciano because it is a grape and it is a city in Tuscany. Now, this wouldn’t be confusing if the great winemakers in Montepulciano grew Montepulciano, but they don’t, of course. They grow sangiovese.

The Montepulciano grape is grown throughout most of Italy, but finds its greatest home in Abruzzi. Montepulciano is a high-yield grape, which, even left unrestrained, produces wine with a tremendous amount of fruit. It is a “fruit ball,” an excellent wine for sipping or having with a bowl of pasta. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is also inexpensive.

Montepulciano can be barrel aged with surprisingly good results. Wood adds complexity and spice to the fruit.

Montepulciano is good when partnered with other native Italian grapes, and is often married to sangiovese, the great Tuscan grape. The wines based on sangiovese grapes include Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino, among others.

The finest Montepulciano blends are Rosso Piceno and Rosso Conero from Marche, and Rosso del Salento from Puglia.

The city of Montepulciano produces one of the great wines of Italy, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Vino Nobile sounds rather boastful, but the origin of the name comes from the fact that the wine was made from grapes grown by nobility on their estates during the 18th century.

Like Chianti Classico Riserva, Vino Nobile is barrel-aged sangiovese wine with an important difference: The clone of sangiovese used in the wine is “prugnolo gentile” (plummy), and this clone imparts a plummy nuance to the bouquet and palate, with the explosive flavor of Chianti Classico Riserva.

Vino Nobile is a world-class wine. It was the first Italian wine to receive the designation of DOCG, Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, the Italian government’s highest designation for a quality Italian wine.

There is a younger version of Vino Nobile called Rosso di Montepulciano. These wines are also great bargains for the quality that they are.

So how did all the confusion about Montepulciano occur? Many Italian-wine scholars theorize that during the 18th century, various wine merchants from Abruzzi claimed their wines were from the Tuscan city of Montepulciano because they could fetch a higher price, and the name stuck. So much for truth in labeling.

Top producers of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are: Avignonesi, Boscarelli, Poliziano and Fattoria del Cerro.

Top producers of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo are: Valentini, Cornacchia, Circo Zaccagnini and Cataldi Madonna.