wine book club

Slow food guide to Italian wines

Published by Gambero Rosso

The front cover sub-title reads ‘A Guide to the World of Italian wine for experts and wine lovers’

1,884 Producers
13,336 Wines
250 Three Glass Awards

Referring to awards, this edition won the ‘Annual Guide Award’ from the highly respected ‘Prix du Champagne Lanson’.

This giant paperback is the largest, most comprehensive guide on Italian wines currently in circulation. It is for serious wine folk, meaning professionals, restaurateurs and dedicated Italian wine lovers with available funds. I stress this last point since the most significant omission in this knowledge-packed volume is the actual cost of the wines under consideration. Instead numbers are given alongside each wine which correlate with an unsatisfactory list of 6 price ranges on page 14. This leads to difficulties when making comparisons, as a wine numbered 4 can be anything from $18 - $27 in price.

The 840 pages make the book far too long for any reviewer to read in its entirety and, in any case, it is meant more as a work of reference. Hence I selected 3 favorite Italian wine producers to check their entries: Michele Chiarlo from Piedmont; Bertani famed for its Amarone and Valpolicella; and Fazi Battaglia renowned for its popular wines from the Marche.

The comprehensive index quickly indicated that Michele Chiarlo could be found on page 47. It begins ‘ Michele Chiarlo, the owner of this major Montferrato estate, has carved out a solid niche for his winery at the peak of Piedmont winemaking’ and lists 13 of his wines including 4 vintages of Barolo Cerequio 95-98, each vintage being awarded 3 glasses -so far so good.

Next a search for Bertani offered page 304, which lists 10 wines including the attractive dry white ‘Due Uve’ but the wine is priced far too high at 4. Its prestigious Amarone della Valpolicella receives 2 red glasses which page 14 tells us is ‘very good to excellent wine selected for final tastings’. One wonders if that wine was decanted and allowed to breathe for 2 hours in advance of tasting. Which procedure would surely have led to 3 glasses.

Finally Fazi Battaglia was found on page 613 with the comment ‘this year, Fazi Battaglia presented another great range of wines, including a number of well-made reds, as well as its celebrated customary Verdicchios.’

What more could one ask? All 3 producers were found easily and with reasonably accurate comments. The layout of the book is a bit boring. There aren’t any illustrations and the page design is reminiscent of many an Internet page. But to be fair, it is a reference book and my trial search worked. Italian Wines 2003 is a must for the really serious followers of Italian wine but surely the task could be made a little lighter and brighter.

And just one footnote. ‘Slow Food Editore’ to put it in Italian as on the cover, is rather interesting. The actual Slow Food Movement claims to be the world’s most unusual food club and it is all thanks to McDonalds. When in 1986 news leaked out that the burger billionaires were seeking consent to open a fast food premises at the foot of Rome’s historic Spanish steps, an Italian called Carlo Petrini founded The Slow Food Movement to counter the fast food culture. Today it is an international movement with some 30,000 members in 15 countries and even publishes a full colour magazine called ‘Slow’.

back to Slow food guide to Italian wines

Related posts:

1. The Newman’s Own Organics Guide to a Good Life
2. Book reveiw:”Harmonize Wine and Food” by Jacques Orhon
3. The Ultimate Guide to Pitcher Drinks
4. “School Alliances - Wine and food” by Pierre Casamayor
5. A Single Wine, from appetizer to dessert” of Evelyn Malnic & Odile Pontillo