Life Beyond Lambrusco: Understanding Italian Fine Wine

Nicolas Belfrage, who qualified as a Master of Wine in 1980, has come to be respected as one of Britain's very few Italian wine experts. In Life Beyond Lambrusco he dissects the subject of Italian wines with an unusual mixture of affection, impartiality and logic. The wines of Italy are classified not by irrelevant political regions but by geographical zones, and then by the major grape varieties shaping the flavour and character. With its sensitive portraits of over thirty representatives producers, this book puts the emphasis firmly on the quality that the country's vineyards and cellars are eminently capable of providing if only non-Italians would abandon their prejudices and take note. Observations of very recent developments of wine styles are especially valuable.