Barolo to Valpolicella - Nicolas Belfrage

In the first of two volumes on the wines of Italy, Nicolas Belfrage explores the mysteries of Northern Italian viniculture. Using the many local and international grape varieties as signposts, the author guides us through this most complex and fascinating of wine-lands - from Mont Blanc to the Slovenian border, from the Swiss-Italian Alps to the Apennine foothills. On the way we take in such magical areas as Valpolicella and Soave Classico, South Tyrol and Trentino, the hills of Bologna and the Po Valley plain where Lambrusco vines once hung from trees. Have the Italians got it in them to take centre stage among the wines of the world in the 21st century? The author puts the case for such an eventuality and provides a base from which readers may form an opinion for themselves.