Italian Wine books

[Ian S]

A place to comment on any Italian wine books you've read.

For my part:

Nicholas Belfrage: Life beyond Lambrusco, Brunello to Zibibbo, Barolo to Valpolicella
Covered together though it's really the last two that are effectively a pair. I like his writing style and he's not afraid to criticise, or put forward alternative ideas, but also seems open enough to call out potential conflicts of interest. These are reading books, rather than glossy coffee table affairs, with just simple b&w maps and a sparse few b&w photos of labels to break the text up.

Life beyond Lambrusco was interesting to read recently, more for the way the Italian wine scene was viewed back then, rather than any insights that had been lost such as now defunct producers. Only recommended if you see it available for a handful of dollars.

Brunello to Zibibbo & Barolo to Valpolicella are more recent, but now starting to get a little long in the tooth. The former covers the South, the latter covers the north. They are at their best, read cover to cover, though you can dip in e.g. if going to a wine region and want to read what he says. He mixes discussion points and arguments with regional background / wine history, before highlighting some producers of interest and their wines. It's not the 'best of the best', just a personal selection with some bias to those he's worked with. International grape varieties are relegated to the latter half of the book, as like many writers it is the local grapes that interest him more. Those wines are given respect though, where he feels respect is due. At the end of the book he attempts to recommend a revised structure for DOCs, DOCGs etc. that crystallise his criticisms into a more positive suggestion.

These books should have wide appeal, but especially for those that prefer words to pretty pictures, and would rather consider a few opinions than have a bland inoffensive or fawning writing style.

Ian d'Agata: Native wine grapes of Italy
A relatively recent publication and quite a weighty tome. Clearly a labour of love, and gives a good insight into the methodologies for identifying wine varieties.
Unlike the Belfrage books, this is more of a reference book, albeit one written in a very engaging style and he balances criticism with praise, though he is enthusiastic enough in the latter that you find yourself enthused enough to search out some wines made from less common grapes. He also does a fair job at saying 'why' he doesn't rate certain wines.
A minor criticism is that for what is a reference book, he makes an arbitrary split between major grape families, more commonly found native grapes and rarely seen native grapes. Thus you have to 'guess' which of the 3 sections a grape will appear in, rather than simply flicking through alphabetically.
Under each grape, you get discussion about the history of how it was identified as a separate grape, plus synonyms all with explanation and references to scientific papers, journals etc. Areas of disagreement are called out. There is discussion of where the grape is grown, how it is vinified, what to expect from the grape in terms of flavours etc.(he's rather good at this), finishing with a list of suggested producers / wines. Thus it is very easy to dip into a single grape and learn a lot very quickly.

One of the most interesting and engaging wine books I've read.

Duemilavini / Bibenda wine annual (now web only)
Compiled by the Sommeliers association, and for me the best of the wine annuals (i.e in the style of Halliday's wine annual). They've taken the brave decision from 2016 guide onwards to be online only, so no hard copy book. A shame from my perspective, as I find a book is easy to flick through, or if cross-referencing it for a wine I might want to buy, easier to compare page and screen without turning on the 2nd monitor.
As with many other Italian guides, I support the simplistic rating - their's is a 1-5 grape bunch (grappoli) system, 5 being the ones they like the best. As with all ratings though, best not to get hung up on the 'scores', and they help this in giving decent tasting notes for wines awarded 4 and 5 grappoli (albeit in Italian, excepting the 2012 edition which also came out in English). A simplistic ageing guide is also given Ready / Ready but will improve / not ready via the familiar rotated bottle icon. Contact details are useful. In addition, and I find this useful, is a listing of wine-friendly restaurants / enoteche serving food (not in English language version). Now I'm sure there is an element of self promotion by the sommeliers here, but not one I see much of a problem with - after all they are saying wine is important in these places, which would be of interest to us. In addition they now also include grappa and olive oil ratings / tasting notes.

All in all, for me the most useful of the annuals, not overly modernist leaning, and anyway the TNs help you make your own mind up.

Gambero Rosso annual
The grand old dame of Italian wine annuals, and 1-2 decades ago, this was like Robert Parker in the influence it had. It emerged as an offshoot of Slow Food movement, but see the Slow wine entry below. Ratings (0-3 glasses) and listings were often contentious, either stylistically, politically or in the minds of some questions were raised about the potential for bribery. I've yet to see any evidence / court case relating to impropriety, so take a pinch of salt with that. The older editions used to list within regions, but ordered alphabetically by town/village name, which initially I found clumsy, but when travelling to a region, it made perfect sense. In latter editions they changed to sorting alphabetically by producer name. Tasting notes such as there were were fairly brief, usually edged out in favour of fawning commentary on the winery / owners. In the end they stopped completely, and I stopped buying the book, though I did backfill older editions on the cheap. I've not read one now for about 6-7 editions.

Overall, picking up an old edition on the cheap is a useful way of getting a snapshot of a period in time in Italian wine appreciation / ratings, but it had flaws, that seemed to grow over time. I can't see myself buying another edition.

The new Italy (Cernilli & Sabellico)
This now getting a little long in the tooth, but I saw it going cheap so thought I'd try it. The format similar to the sister titles (e.g. The new France). However this shockingly missed the brief completely, listing far too many producers who were neither new, nor innovating, but rather trundling along fat, dumb and happy. Indeed for a book that should have been revealing 'under the radar' wineries with great potential, it really failed. It would have been better as a general overview of Italian wine, but even then would have felt just 'ok'. IMO don't bother.

Slow wine annual
I've just got the 2014 edition of this. As alluded to above, despite the Gambero Rosso books arising out of Slow Food, there seemed little synergy between those books and their commercial success, and the aims of Slow Food. Perhaps unsurprisingly this came to a head with a few departures from Gambero Rosso and the eventual emergence of this wine guide. The evidence is clear that they sought to make more of organic/sustainability, tradition without losing sight of what they thought of the 'quality' and value for money. Thus they have three symbols they use to represent alignment with slow food principles (snail / chiocciola), bottle for good quality, coin for value, or none. These are against the winery not the wines. Sections on People / Vineyards / Wines form the winery entry. The wines are not rated, but some have brief descriptions / TNs. Overall the guide was very compact, with remarkably few wineries covered. In this format I'd not recommend it, however some of those ideas have merit and they may adapt the guide over time to attract more entries and to make it more interesting / thought provoking / useful.

WOFW Tuscany and central Italy (also Belfrage)
Not covered above, as the book is radically different to Belfrage's other work. This is very much in the glossy WOFW 'Finest...' series, with some overview, individual producer profiles of leading estates, and a lot of glossy pictures. Belfrage's writing style is still good, but this feels like his wings have been clipped and is a less engaging style as a result. Very easy to pick up & flick through, but perhaps a case of having the icing and the marzipan, but missing the cake itself.

[winetastic]

Kerin O'Keefe
Barolo and Barbaresco - The King and Queen of Italian Wine
Although not encyclopedic, it does give a good primer on the history of the region, modernist vs traditional winemaking approaches and a decent snapshot of many producers in the area. I found it very useful prior to our first trip to Piedmonte.