Barolo to Valpolicella: The Wines of Northern Italy - Hardcover

Belfrage, Nicolas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571178510 ISBN 13: 9780571178513

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 1999

Synopsis

Wine is, and has been since time immemorial, the lifeblood of Italy -- and in the late twentieth century, it has also become hugely popular around the world. Such is their variety today that Italian wines, ranging from a classic Piemonte red like Barbaresco to the Veneto's elegant white Soave Classico, have come to be considered both fine wines to be savored and affordable wines that can be drunk every day.In Barolo to Valpolicella, Nicolas Belfrage explores the mysteries of Northern Italian viniculture, focusing on dozens of wines ranging from the normale to the highest-quality single-vineyard masterpieces. Using many local and international grape varieties as signposts, he guides the reader through such magical areas as Valpolicella, South Tyrol, and Trentino as well as the hills of Bologna and the Po Valley plain, where Lambrusco wines really did once hang from trees. Enhancing his text with an extensive listing of producers, a helpful glossary of Italian terms, and even a guide to pronouncing Italian words, Belfrage has written one of the most complete and accessible guides to today's Italian wines yet to be published.

About this title

Review

Viticulture in Italy has a history of more than 2,000 years, having been severally introduced by the Estruscans and the Greeks. The product of this great weight of tradition was, until recently, a virtually unregulated chaos of hundreds of different grape varieties and wines of wildly and unpredictably varying qualities. As Nicolas Belfrage observes in Barolo to Valpolicella, the first, northern, volume of a two-part geographical study of Italian wines, producers now face the challenge of preserving the vigour and often highly local character of these varieties, while adapting to the modern world of a regulated industry and scientific methods of production. Much Italian wine, moreover, is produced with an eye to bulk rather than quality; and there seems to be a reluctance on the part of many Italians to accept wines with a high degree of character. However, all that is slowly changing. Belfrage remarks that the idea of Italy surpassing the stature of France as a producer of high quality wines is unlikely but no longer preposterous. Barolo to Valpolicella is an exhaustive guide to this formidably complex subject. Dividing the country into very broad geographical regions, the discussion within each is by grape variety (an interesting approach that reflects the importance of this richness), by the wines made from it and by the principal producers of those wines. Belfrage's command of his subject is impressive and detailed: he seems to have been everywhere and talked to everyone. Anyone daunted by the notorious complexity of the Italian wine business will find Barolo to Valpolicella an ideal cicerone. --Robin Davidson

Synopsis

The first volume on the wines of Italy which explores Northern Italian viniculture. Using the local and international grape varieties the author provides a guide through the wine-lands of Italy, covering areas including Valpolicella, Soave and Lambrusco. Includes black and white maps and illustrations of wine labels.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0571178510
• ISBN 13: 9780571178513
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400