Display omitted •110 monovarietal red wines, produced from 11 Italian varieties, were analyzed.•A correlation study on basic, phenolic, and color parameters was performed.•The high variability among wine groups evidenced distinctive varietal traits.•Strong correlations between phenolic and flavanol indices were found.•‘Nebbiolo’, ‘Teroldego’ and ‘Sagrantino’ were well discriminable from other wines. An extensive survey was conducted on 110 Italian monovarietal red wines from a single vintage to determine their standard compositional, color, and phenolic characteristics, analysing more than 35 parameters evaluated through methods commonly used in the wine industry. ‘Primitivo’ achieved the highest average alcohol strength (15.4% v/v) and dry extract values, while ‘Cannonau’ showed the lowest total acidity. ‘Corvina’ had the lowest phenolic content (1065 mg/L by Folin-Ciocalteu assay), remarkably different from the highest found in ‘Sagrantino’ (3578 mg/L), the latter being also the richest variety in both proanthocyanidins and vanillin-reactive flavanols. ‘Teroldego’ wines were the richest in both total and monomeric anthocyanins (702 and 315 mg/L, respectively), followed by ‘Aglianico’ and ‘Raboso Piave’, while ‘Corvina’, ‘Nebbiolo’, and ‘Nerello Mascalese’ were the poorest. ‘Montepulciano’ and ‘Sangiovese’ showed intermediate values for the majority of the parameters analyzed. A multivariate PCA-DA approach allowed achieving both a classification of the different wines as well as the discrimination of ‘Sangiovese’ wines produced in two regions (Emilia Romagna and Toscana) that returned a 42–66% success rate depending on the zone considered. Taking into account the number and diversity of the wines analyzed, a correlation study helped in better understanding the underlying relations between the most common and widespread analytical techniques for phenolic and color determinations.