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The World of Sicilian Wine provides wine lovers with a comprehensive understanding of Sicilian wine, from its ancient roots to its modern evolution. Offering a guide and map to exploring Sicily, Bill Nesto, an expert in Italian wine, and Frances Di Savino, a student of Italian culture, deliver a substantive appreciation of a vibrant wine region that is one of Europe’s most historic areas and a place where many cultures intersect. From the earliest Greek and Phoenician settlers who colonized the island in the eighth century B.C., the culture of wine has flourished in Sicily. A parade of foreign rulers was similarly drawn to Sicily’s fertile land, sun-filled climate, and strategic position in the Mediterranean. The modern Sicilian quality wine industry was reborn in the 1980s and 1990s with the arrival of wines made with established international varieties and state-of-the-art enology. Sicily is only now rediscovering the quality of its indigenous grape varieties, such as Nero d’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Frappato, Grillo, and distinctive terroirs such as the slopes of Mount Etna.
This book tells the story of the ancient land named Chianti and the modern wine appellation known as Chianti Classico. In 1716, TuscanyÕs penultimate Medici ruler, Cosimo III, anointed the region of Chianti, along with three smaller areas in the Florentine State, as the worldÕs first legal appellations of origin for wine. In the succeeding centuries, this milestone was all but forgotten. By the late nineteenth century, the name Chianti, rather than signifying this historic region and its celebrated wine, identified a simple Italian red table wine in a straw-covered flask. Ê In the twenty-first century, Chianti Classico emerged as one of ItalyÕs most dynamic and fashionable wine zones. Ch...
In Postmodern Winemaking, Clark Smith shares the extensive knowledge he has accumulated in engaging, humorous, and erudite essays that convey a new vision of the winemaker's craft--one that credits the crucial roles played by both science and art in the winemaking process. Smith, a leading innovator in red wine production techniques, explains how traditional enological education has led many winemakers astray--enabling them to create competent, consistent wines while putting exceptional wines of structure and mystery beyond their grasp. Great wines, he claims, demand a personal and creative engagement with many elements of the process. His lively exploration of the facets of postmodern winemaking, together with profiles of some of its practitioners, is both entertaining and enlightening.
An authoritative and inspirational winetasting course, from one of the world's leading wine educators. 'Explains the mechanics of taste and tasting better than any book I've seen.' - Richard Ehrlich, Independent on Sunday Learn how to taste wine, with one of the world's leading wine educators. This book offers a particularly clear and precise means of teaching yourself how to taste and how to get more out of your wine, whatever your level. All the major grape varieties are explored, and their key characteristics in different regions. Ten practical tastings then cover core tasting techniques. Do you want to explore Dry Whites, for example, looking at 'Old World' versus 'New World' Sauvignon Blancs? Or investigate 'terroir' in a range of Bordeaux wines? Additional information on subjects such as Wines and Age and the impact of climate change complete the picture, making this book a powerful tool for understanding and appreciating wine at all levels.
Inspired by a deep passion for wine, an Italian heritage, and a desire for a land somewhat wilder than his home in southern France, Robert V. Camuto set out to explore Sicily's emerging wine scene. What he discovered during more than a year of traveling the region, however, was far more than a fascinating wine frontier.
“An important new book on Chianti Classico: Winners of the André Simon 2013 award for their book The World of Sicilian Wine, Nesto and Di Savino have produced the investigative, scholarly and detailed book that Chianti Classico has long deserved. Nesto and Di Savino are brilliant historic investigators. . . . A must-read for anyone seriously interested in wine.”—Walter Speller, JancisRobinson.com This book tells the story of the ancient land named Chianti and the modern wine appellation known as Chianti Classico. In 1716, Tuscany’s penultimate Medici ruler, Cosimo III, anointed the region of Chianti, along with three smaller areas in the Florentine State, as the world’s first lega...
For fans of Italian wine, few names command the level of respect accorded to Brunello di Montalcino. Expert wine writer Kerin O’Keefe has a deep personal knowledge of Tuscany and its extraordinary wine, and her account is both thoroughly researched and readable. Organized as a guided tour through Montalcino’s geography, this essential reference also makes sense of Brunello’s complicated history, from its rapid rise to the negative and positive effects of the 2008 grape-blending scandal dubbed "Brunellogate." O’Keefe also provides in-depth profiles of nearly sixty leading producers of Brunello.
From medieval bestiaries to Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings, we’ve long been enchanted by extraordinary animals, be they terrifying three-headed dogs or asps impervious to a snake charmer’s song. But bestiaries are more than just zany zoology—they are artful attempts to convey broader beliefs about human beings and the natural order. Today, we no longer fear sea monsters or banshees. But from the infamous honey badger to the giant squid, animals continue to captivate us with the things they can do and the things they cannot, what we know about them and what we don’t. With The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Caspar Henderson offers readers a fascinating, beautifully produced moder...
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When Isobel Dusi visited Italy with her Australian husband Lou, little did they imagine that life would change forever. But, utterly besotted with the fragrant warmth and good-natured conviviality of Southern Tuscany, they decided to sell up their lives in the big city and move thousands of miles to follow the dream of a life more in keeping with ancient rhythms and time-honoured traditions of the Mediterranean. After months of searching they settled upon Montalcino, an intriguing hilltop medieval village with a reputation for some of the finest wine in Italy. VANILLA BEANS AND BRODO is an account of Isobel's hard-won acceptance into this tempestuous, warm-hearted and proudly independent community, whose voluble passions for home grown wine and Tuscan cuisine, for football and ancient traditions and festivals, puts paid to the myth that life in rural Tuscany is tranquil. Isobel and Lou are gradually transformed into Isabella and Luigi in this charming account of Tuscan village life that really gets to the beating heart of an Italian community - its joys, pleasures, anxieties, but above all, its absorbing eccentricities.