Wine Atlas of the Langhe (Slow Food)

I finally found this at a price I felt good about. It's well worth owning although it didn't provide a lot of the info I thought it might. Like who has the best location in a vineyard, except that occasionally, it does! I thought there might be more on current ownership and history of the vineyards.

It also covers a bit of totally irrelevant info best left to guide books.

It does mention some of the vineyards that Dr. Cappellano bought from in the 50's, the original vineyard of Monfortino and other tidbits.

There are some interviews with old timers that sometimes reveal little bits and pieces of vineyard history. With so many producers with the same last name, it also helps to identify which older producer is the fore father of current producers, which can tie to vineyard as well. I really enjoyed reading about the historical figures although it sometimes went off track. Why was the Monvigliero vineyard supplying the Savoy Court and the nobles of Milano? Because it was the furthest north and could get the wines to market easier than others.

As a value buyer, I was fascinated to find out that the Santa Maria district of La Morra (Barolo) was highly rated in their opinion. I'd never even heard about the area before.

I never felt like I had the time, energy, liver and wallet to spend much time buying Barbaresco as discovering Barolo in depth took all that I had. But after getting most of the Serralunga producers I really wanted, I read the section on Treiso and as a value buyer, I was fascinated. A relative backwater, they list quite a few "Great" vineyards there as well as being the most "Barolo"-like of the Barbaresco towns. It was also motivating to read about several other highly rated Barbaresco vineyards that sell for low dollars.

The book really emphasizes vineyard exposure and how many of these "Great" vineyards have undulations that switch from great exposure to not so great. So a vineyard name is no guarantee.


They list labels producing from each vineyard at the time of writing and some labels had such a different name, I had no idea that they were in a particular vineyard. Bric Mentina and Sori Burden, for instance.

The pictures of the vineyards are numerous and at first I found them boring but after looking at so many, I became intrigued with the photos and find them beautiful now.

The book gave me the confidence to buy a bunch of wine that I wouldn't have before reading it.

I don't want to give away too many details about the book but I'll probably add to this thread as I re-read it.

Thanks
Fraser


Edited by fraser (05-31-2018 11:44:17)