The New Italy By Daniele Cernilli & Marco Sabellico

This attractively illustrated volume, which includes regional maps, is far more than a coffee table book. It is a comprehensive guide to Italy and its winemaking today. The authors are two experienced Italian wine journalists who clearly have encyclopedic knowledge.

It begins with an untitled and beautifully balanced still life of various wine bottles and jugs to introduce ‘The Story of Italian Wine’, followed by explanatory chapters on Italian wine production, label regulations and grape varieties. The co-authors then proceed to divide Italian wine production into 6 main areas: The Northwest, The Northeast, Adriatic Apennines, The Central Tyrrhenian, The Southern Peninsula and The Islands. Each of these is sub-divided into individual regions and then into chapters about specific denominations.


Thus the Northwest embraces Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria, whilst Piedmont, for example, contains separate chapters on Barbaresco, Barolo, Alba and Roero, Asti and Barbera d’Asti, Monferrato and Gavi, Novara and the Vercelli Hills. At this point, with 5 further sections and 50 further chapters to come, the realisation dawns of how little we know about Italian wine. There is a distinct need for such a book and it will become a useful and maybe important reference work in many a wine library, whether belonging to organisations or individuals.

With such extensive and comprehensive subject matter just how does a wine journalist assess this book? The answer is to look at the areas that cover the Italian wines of which one has some personal experience, which is the method I followed. As it is no secret that Wine on the Web is a fan of the Gavi wines from La Scolca, I turned to page 53 and – hey presto – soon found it described in particularly praiseworthy terms! So what about Frescobaldi’s Nipozzano, which I have visited as a journalist and which has a reputation as a most consistent Chianti Rufina estate? On page 22 it appears with a positive reference to its aging potential. Next, a change of direction South to Marsala, where Florio and Pellegrino excel and they were also found amongst 5 favorable mentions. Throughout the book ‘notable producers’ are listed in every region.

Frankly ‘The New Italy’ has so much content it is difficult to give a really accurate review. The truth will emerge over the coming years as each Italian wine sample is tasted and the search for its identity begins. I know that I will be referring to it over and over again, as will many others.