At 9 o'clock on a midsummer evening, the blood-red sun slowly melts into the horizon, and a refreshing breeze begins to cool the hot, humid air. Men and women mingle around a swimming pool, their clothes as chic as the contemporary sculpture that surrounds them. The partygoers sip Champagne and sample canapés of raw fish and vegetables, laughing and conversing.

It could be New York's Hamptons, the French Riviera, or anywhere stylish people gather for fun. But this party takes place in the ancient hillsides of Tuscany during a small dinner for some of Italy's top young wine producers.

"This is like a beautiful dream," says Cesare Turini, 33, the Tuscan wine merchant and international marketing consultant who organized the intimate dinner at his Zen-like house in the hills above Castelfranco di Sopra. The guests include some of the biggest names in Italian wine, such as Antinori and Frescobaldi, and nearly all of them are in their 30s. "If this is the new generation of Italian wine, then Italy is really going to go far," Turini declares.

It's hard to think of another wine-producing country where people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are working more diligently to improve on what their forefathers have given them. Vineyards, wineries, restaurants and wine shops in Italy are full of young people striving to provide the world with high quality wines. The men and women of this new generation are not only enhancing a winemaking tradition that goes back millennia, they are creating their own history in the world of Italian wine. They are responsible for new and exciting wines from just about every part of the country, from Piedmont in the north to Sicily in the south.

The following pages profile 10 of these accomplished young Italian wine professionals. It was difficult to select just 10 representatives of this ongoing renaissance, or rinascimento, in Italian wine, considering the hundreds of deserving candidates. But this select group illustrates what really is happening in the vineyards and wineries of Italy today.

Six are from Tuscany, the Italian wine region most popular among Americans and the one in which the greatest innovations in winemaking have occurred over the past two decades. Two come from the north, representing relatively small, traditional wine producers, one in Piedmont, the other in Trentino. The remaining two are Sicilians, highlighting the great potential for making world-class wines in southern Italy, particularly on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Southern Italy will inevitably be a source of fine wine for a new generation of wine lovers.