How can you not to get all tingly and giddy over sweet talk about biotypes, Pigato vs Vermentino , Cerasuolo di Vittoria and the battle for the soul of Pecorino? Well at least it is hard for me not to get tingly, especially when that sweet talk is coming from a wine writer with over 25 years of experience living and breathing the wines of Italy. That gorgeous hunk of geekdom devoted pages to covering 1, grape varieties grown across the globe. While he is upfront about not having all the answersβespecially with conflicting DNA analysis and contrary first person observationsβit is impossible to pick up Native Wine Grapes of Italy and not come away learning mountains of new information about Italian grapes.
Did you know that the Moscato bianco grape of Piedmont was once one of the most widely planted wine grapes in the Tuscan village of Montalcino?
The work is exceptionally well organized mostly alphabetical though several varieties which belong to groups or families of grapes like the many Greco, Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes get their own chapter making it a fantastic and easy to use reference anytime you want to dive deeper.
About 10 to 15 minutes each. I probably would have appreciated even more how cool this map and viewpoint from La Morra was. Really fascinating stuff. I also often end up learning something as well. It was also fun listening to early thoughts on the Bordeaux vintage with Chris and Jane especially considering the woeful reputation that vintage has now though, in hindsight, good cellar defenders can still be found from Of that , around are used for wine production. This has definitely held true with even producers in the US like Leonetti releasing an Aglianico.
In my January post In a rut? Try these new grapes! The Valadige pictured , Alto Adige and Friuli regions can be more labor intensive than the Veneto or some parts of New Zealand which can make producing value priced Sauvignon blanc a bit difficult.
