A History Of Italian Wine

This book analyzes the evolution of Italian viticulture and winemaking from the 1860s to the new Millennium. During this period the Italian wine sector experienced a profound modernization, renovating itself and adapting its products to international trends, progressively building the current excellent reputation of Italian wine in the world market. Using unpublished sources and a vast bibliography, authors highlight the main factors favoring this evolution: public institutional support to viticulture; the birth and the growth of Italian wine entrepreneurship; the improvement in quality of the winemaking processes; the increasing relevance of viticulture and winemaking in Italian agricultural production and export; and the emergence of wine as a cultural product.

The modern history of Italian wine, which began between the 1960s and early 1970s, narrated by its main protagonists. Divided into three sections, the volume takes the reader on a journey into the multifaceted world of Italian wine. Starting from its origins in the 1960s and following its evolution, the journey takes in the viticulture landscape, the many international markets, the winemaking revolution, the different societies and movements, the wineries (inner sanctums where the wine ritual is celebrated), and even Italian cuisine and its global success. The book also introduces the vintners, who decade after decade have written this history from the 1970s until the present, and to each of whom is devoted a comprehensive entry.

As a young child in Naples, Italy, Sergio Esposito sat at his kitchen table observing the daily ritual of his large, loud family bonding over fresh local dishes and simple country wines. While devouring the rich bufala mozzarella, still sopping with milk and salt, and the platters of fresh prosciutto, sliced so thin he could see through it, he absorbed the profound relationship of food, wine, and family in Italian culture. Growing up in Albany, New York, after emigrating there with his family, he always sat next to his uncle Aldo and sipped from his wineglass during their customary hours-long extended family feasts. Thus, from a very early age, Esposito came to associate wine with the warmth of family, the tastes of his mother’s cooking—and, above all, memories of his former life in Italy. When he was in his twenties, he headed for New York and undertook a career in wine, beginning a journey that would culminate in his founding of Italian Wine Merchants, now the leading Italian wine source in America. His career offered him the opportunity to make frequent trips back to Italy to find wine for his clients, to learn the traditions of Italian winemaking, and, in so doing, to rediscover the Italian way of life he’d left behind. Passion on the Vine is Esposito’s intimate and evocative memoir of his colorful family life in Italy, his abrupt transition to life in America, and of his travels into the heart of Italy—its wine country—and the lives of those who inhabit it. The result is a remarkably engaging and entertaining wine/travel narrative replete with vivid portraits of seductive places—the world-famous cellars of Piedmont, the sweeping estates of Tuscany, the lush fields of Campania, the chilly hills of Friuli, the windy beaches of Le Marche; and of memorable people, diverse and vibrant wine artisans—from a disco-dancing vintner who bases his farming on the rhythm of the moon to an obsessive prince who destroys his vineyards before his death so that his grapes will never be used incorrectly. Esposito’s luscious accounts of the wonderful food and wine that are so much a part of Italian life, and his poignant and often hilarious stories of his relationships with his family and Italian friends, make Passion on the Vine an utterly unique and enchanting work about Italy and its eternally seductive lifestyle.

Historians will enjoy this insight into the history of alcohol written by an expert in the field. This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.

Mountainous terrain, volcanic soils, innumerable microclimates, and an ancient culture of winemaking influenced by Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans make Italy the most diverse country in the world of wine. This diversity is reflected in the fact that Italy grows the largest number of native wine grapes known, amounting to more than a quarter of the worldÕs commercial wine grape types. Ian DÕAgata spent thirteen years interviewing producers, walking vineyards, studying available research, and tasting wines to create this authoritative guide to ItalyÕs native grapes and their wines. Writing with great enthusiasm and deep knowledge, DÕAgata discusses more than five hundred different native Italian grape varieties, from Aglianico to Zibibbo. DÕAgata provides details about how wine grapes are identified and classified, what clones are available, which soils are ideal, and what genetic evidence tells us about a varietyÕs parentage. He gives historical and anecdotal accounts of each grape variety and describes the characteristics of wines made from the grape. A regional list of varieties and a list of the best producers provide additional guidance. Comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and engaging, this book is the perfect companion for anyone who wants to know more about the vast enological treasures cultivated in Italy.

Mondavi, Martini, Sebastiani, Gallo, Bargetto and Perelli-Minetti. Who could deny the importance of Italians to the development of America’s wine industry? It is little known that Italians have been planting vineyards and making wine in America since the early colonial days when Filippo Mazzei was the vineyard consultant for Thomas Jefferson. Grapes were planted and nurtured in virtually every corner of America where Italians settled. Wine making was as sacrosanct as making bread or pasta. Here is the story of Italian immigrants whose descendants now dominate American wine making. How they struggled and endured. How they persisted in the face of Prohibition and facilitated legislation permitting home wine making of 200 gallons per family. The intrigue, the feuds, the love affairs and financial triumphs are all in this authenticated history from the earliest days of America to the new Italian/American wine makers.

Following on the success of her books on Brunello di Montalcino, renowned author and wine critic Kerin OÕKeefe takes readers on a historic and in-depth journey to discover Barolo and Barbaresco, two of ItalyÕs most fascinating and storied wines. In this groundbreaking new book, OÕKeefe gives a comprehensive overview of the stunning side-by-side growing areas of these two world-class wines that are separated only by the city of Alba and profiles a number of the fiercely individualistic winemakers who create structured yet elegant and complex wines of remarkable depth from ItalyÕs most noble grape, Nebbiolo. A masterful narrator of the aristocratic origins of winemaking in this region, OÕKeefe gives readers a clear picture of why Barolo is called both the King of Wines and the Wine of Kings. Profiles of key Barolo and Barbaresco villages include fascinating stories of the families, wine producers, and idiosyncratic personalities that have shaped the area and its wines and helped ignite the Quality Wine Revolution that eventually swept through all of Italy. The book also considers practical factors impacting winemaking in this region, including climate change, destructive use of harsh chemicals in the vineyards versus the gentler treatments used for centuries, the various schools of thought regarding vinification and aging, and expansion and zoning of vineyard areas. Readers will also appreciate a helpful vintage guide to Barolo and Barbaresco and a glossary of useful Italian wine terms.