"Calabria is located at the ‘toe’ of the Italian peninsula and is characterized by its Mediterranean climate. To the north is the Apennine Mountains forming the border with Basilicata and the Ionian Sea forms the eastern and southern borders. To the west is the Straight of Messina which separates, only just, Calabria from Sicily."
You would never know it these days but Calabria was once considered amongst the greatest wines in the world. Famed in ancient times as the "land of vines", the wines were highly sort after throughout both Italy and Europe for centuries. That is until the 18th and 19th centuries when the industry, already on a slow decline, was all but destroyed by Phylloxera in the 1890's.
Calabria is a mountainous and rural region. It's different regions can be quite remote from each other and difficult to reach with lack of infrastructure a constant challenge. Today it is the least populated and poorest region in Italy with less than 5 million cases of wine produced each year.
On the bright side there have been a small but growing number of quality minded produces creating wine from organically farmed vineyards using minimal intervention winemaking. Younger, less risk averse winemakers focusing on native varieties who have found support amongst the worlds natural wine community.