Italian Wines: A Guide to the World of Italian Wine for Experts and Wine Lovers

This is the 17th edition of Italian Wines. As ever, the team of tasters assembled by Gambero Rosso and Slow Food has completed the huge task of selecting and reviewing wines from all over Italy. And as ever, the Guide has been rewritten from start to finish, not just updated. A substantial increase in the number of pages has enabled us to review even more wineries and wines than in past editions. In Italian Wines 2004, you will find fully 1,937 wineries and 14,208 wines representing the very best of Italy's winemaking scene. It is a vast, utterly unique selection that makes the Guide an extraordinarily useful tool for wine professionals, as well as an invaluable manual for lovers of fine wine. Each product reviewed is, of course, accompanied by a rating expressed as a number of Italian Wine's now celebrated Glasses. Scores range from none to Three Glasses, our top award for wines of excellence. This year, 254 wines won the coveted Three Glass accolade. The leading region this time is Tuscany, with 62 top awards, followed by Piedmont with 60. In third place again is Friuli Venezia Giulia, with 26 top-scoring wines, and fourth is Veneto with 20. Next comes Alto Adige with 18 and Sicily with 12. There are nine award-winners from Lombardy and Marche, Umbria has six and Abruzzo, Campania and Emilia Romagna each produced five. Puglia has four top awards, then Sardinia, Lazio and Trentino took three apiece. Closing the classification with two awards each are Basilicata and Valle d'Aosta. Book jacket.