The wine is an amazing thing to drink, to know, and to think about, but doesn’t need to be complicated. Anyone with just a pinch of curiosity can splash in this fantastic world - provided, however, that you have the right tools to get your bearings.
“Italian Wine” (first edition 2020!) was a handful of book ideal to start to know the Italian world of grapes and wines. Its small size maybe didn’t mean to intimidate the wannabe wine lover, but the contents were more than respectable.
"Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0" takes things to the next level. It's a much larger (and heavier!) book, serving as a sort of Bible for Italian grapes, wines, and territories. It’s a must-have, not only because it summarizes all the grapes cultivated in Italy, but also because it was written by a group of influential authors led by world-renowned scientist and popularizer: professor Attilio Scienza. The book is divided into three main parts (Science, Geography, Grape by Grape) and includes additional chapter signed by Sarah Heller MW and Henry Davar IWE.
I already have “Italian Wine” (and “Italian Wine Unplugged" Grape by Grape” in a digital format,) thus this latest book could appear to me like a new edition with just some new addition. Actually, it’s much more than that. All the contents have been rethought, re-written, and deepened and new materials never published before have been added.
The third part ( “Native and Traditional Varieties”) explains the length and breadth of all Italian regions, their grapes - even the rarest and less known - and wines with an almost educational style, very simple, suitable for everyone. Reading, especially this part, I realized how difficult to pronounce are some names of Italian grapes. They are hostile even for us Italians, let alone for a poor foreign wine-lover. It would have been helpful to add the pronounce next to the name of the grape.
An assignment for the third edition, perhaps?
As for “Italian Wine”, “Vine and Prejudice”, “Wine Democracy” and other titles, even this latest one comes out of the inexhaustible hotbed of ideas and initiatives created and led by Stevie Kim, the “mamma jumbo shrimp” everyone (or almost) in our crazy small wine world knows.
“Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0” - Jumbo Shrimp Guide.