Lison is a white-wine DOCG of north-eastern Italy, covering an area of eastern Veneto and western Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Lison wines are made from Tocai, one of Veneto and Friuli's signature white grapes. The variety is now officially known as Tai, to avoid confusion with the sweet wines of Hungary's Tokaj region.
For 25 years Lison's wines were sold under the Lison-Pramaggiore DOC, alongside the red blends once sold as Cabernet di Pramaggiore. These two wine styles were merged together under the Lison-Pramaggiore title in 1985, but the continued success of Lison's white wines led Veneto's wine authorities to separate them again in December 2010. At this time Lison not only had its status as an independent appellation reinstated, it also enjoyed a promotion to the lofty DOCG rung of Italy's four-tier wine quality system.
The majority of the Lison vineyard area falls within the Venezia province, namely around the communes of Annone Veneto, Cinto Caomaggiore, Gruaro, Fossalta di Portogruaro, Pramaggiore and Teglio Veneto. Also covered is the village of Meduna di Livenza, right at the western edge of the Treviso province and right next to the regional border with Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Just across the regional border, in Friuli's Pordenone province, the vineyards of Chions, Cordovado and Pravisdomini are home to the easternmost Lison vineyards, making Lison the only DOCG in Italy whose catchment area crosses from one region into another.
As is the case with a number of Italian DOCs (Lison's Veneto stablemates Soave and Valpolicella among them), Lison has a classico zone within its delimited viticultural area. The significance of classico here is 'traditional' or 'historic'; the idea is that the longer a vineyard area has been established, the higher the quality of the wines it produces. Wines made in Lison's Classico vineyards are, perhaps obviously, labeled as Lison Classico.
