Book Review: Vino Italiano (The Regional Wines of Italy)

This post, the Dude is offering his review of Joseph Bastianich's & David Lynch's weighty tome on all things Italo-wine-related: Vino Italiano.

My review is part of a larger blog-carnival-type effort with near-simultaneous reviews of the same book happening at other wine blogs, called the Wine Book Club. You can check out some of the haps and conversation at the Shelfari book group. For more on the background of WBC, and a bit about the authors of Vino Italiano, check out my previous post on the subject.

The Low-Down
You'd think that a 500+ page book would warrant a lengthy review, but that's simply not the case here (thankfully!). This is mostly due to the well-considered layout of the book.

Vino Italiano is divided into three sections:

1. A primer on Italian wine history & wine laws (essential information if you hope to understand an Italian wine label!)
2. A tour of each of Italy's major wine regions in turn, starting with cultural interactions / story-telling, moving to well-written descriptions of the wine styles of the region, and ending with a recommended regional food & wine pairing
3. Reference material, including a glossary of Italian wine terminology, and a wine producer directory.
   

How To Use This Book
Novices will find the first section particularly useful. When you're dealing with Italian wine, expect to be confused - there's simply no easy way to deal with it, so you might as well jump right in; this section will help make that jump as painless as possible.

Wine geeks like the Dude here will find the 3rd section the most interesting, if only for a handy reference to remind us what some of the Italian wine label terms mean, or digging up the detail on what is and isn't permitted in some of the regional quality classifications, etc.

Most people, however, will find the book's large midsection the most useful. That's because the authors of Vino Italiano know what the Italians know: the only way to truly appreciate Italy's regional wine treasures in full is to experience them as part of a larger picture - that picture including a unique blend of regional culture, history, and (most importantly) food.

The majority of Italian wines are meant to be consumed with their regional gustatory counterparts - the recipe and wine pairings (provided by Lidia Bastanich and household-name Mario Batali) at the end of each chapter are not after-thoughts - they are essential components if you want to "get" Italian wine. Personally, I've been hoping to try the Spagheti alla Luganica and Anglianico del Vulture pairing (see pgs. 330-331). If you don't get hungry at some point when reading Vino Italiano, then you're missing the point.

You needn't read the book cover-to-cover - the book is structured so that skipping around to read about a particular region will give you a perfectly good understanding of that region and its wines.


Buy It or Skip It?
Buy it. Vino Italiano is well-written (Dude majored in English Lit. in undergrad, so he does not offer that sort of praise lightly!), and its harmonious blend of regional Italian culture, food, and wine make it a winner. It's also a book that will provide benefit for a wine lover at nearly every stage of his/her wine knowledge development. This is one of the few instances where a book's many accolades (on the jacket, and in its on-line user reviews) are well-deserved.

Cheers, and happy reading!