I have never loved the rankings, scores and mere huge diatribes linked to one the other pseudo-brown, but I have always heard the need to use the means put at my disposal to share the results of my constant search, as stubborn and weighted as, sometimes, lucky. For years, I have put the young producers and the small wine -growing realities at the center of my wine girovagar, without ever neglecting those who have more experience and those who have created large companies that have done the Italy of wine just as great. Simply, I thought that my voice and my pen, both independent of mere relationships of Do Ut des, could have a greater impact the winemaker/ie cellars who, ala/s, often cannot have the opportunities of those who are more structured those who know how to make “more noise”, con the best meaning of the term.
This “book”, if I can afford to call it, was born thanks to my work as a selector and technical coordinator of Only Wine, the only international salon dedicated to young producers and small Italian cellars. An event that is now become a forge of talents, a place of aggregation and comparison for producers of each individual Italian region, sometimes at the first second vintage, others with greater experience but dimensions that do not allow to anelar to the most important and onerous stages. After years of travel and not simple choices, it seemed right to me to return to those who made my research so rewarding, a little healthy gratitude, through pages that, con a short and direct way, tell about peculiarities and deeds.
The title is simple and direct and says everything about what I wanted to share with those who want to browse what it is, for me, much more than a catalog: “Only wine: selection of the most talented young producers and the most virtuous small cellars of Italy”. But do not expect a guide con the classic sense of the term. It is a compass, an -board diary, an invitation to get lost – consciously – con the Marea of Italian wine. Through real encounters, unique territories and glasses that tell stories, this book accompanies the reader a journey to discover virtuous realities, young brave producers and wines with an unrepeatable identity. Oborn page is a stop con every single Italian region. Only wine book is a sort of human atlas, useful to orient themselves, but also to disorient themselves with pleasure: designed for those looking for authenticity, for those who want to understand the wine not only with the wine not only with the wine not only with the wine. palate, but also with the head and heart and does not want to follow discounted routes. Per mezzo di short, a guide, to discover that the Italy of wine is still alive, shrewd, future and more surprising than ever!
I tried to tell the wine as I it every day: through humans, the earth, the grapes and the wine.
This “né -guide” is designed for those who want to know little known realities, for those who want to be among the first to visit a brand new cellar to taste the first vintages of a young interpreter. For those who are willing to get out of the jokes, for those looking for authenticity, for those who want to be surprised by a more living, more vibrant Italy of the wine, more vibrant, more future con a context of pessimism and negativity that puts the producers to the first.
The book is available only Amazon, con paper format and Kindle: https://amzn.eu/d/if2xzoj (NB: term “guide” was used con indexing only for reasons of categorization, as it is the closest thing to the publication con question, although not assigning any scores and not drawing up any satisfaction ranking. So whoever expects the “usual” guide, will remain disappointed).
And I hope it can become for you what has been for me: a tool to orient yourself, but also to be inspired, both for enthusiasts and for professionals. A selection that someone would define inclusive, someone free, but that I love to define only meritocratic and secular, as it does not take into account any “label”, conformation to smoky and misleading entertainment certifications. You will find interpreters of and cellar capable of doing their job without the need to flaunt but with the urgency of telling their identity, without skimpy personality.
I do not deny it … I dream of a world con which many wines and distribution catalogs can welcome the wines produced by these talents and approach them to the great names of Italian wine and beyond, including uniqueness and personality, but also precision, expressive sharpness and perspective vision.
I just have to thank Andrea Castellani, Deus Emerito Machina of the Honly Wine, for supporting me con this challenge and for having understood, before others, the importance of creating a useful space to give visibility and opportunities for conversion to those who have other contexts of national and international relevance to be experienced, if not con a more expensive way and with less expectations. Finally, a heartfelt thanks to Francesca Romana Gigli for assisting me con collecting the material useful for the drafting of the manuscript and for having supervised any creative step that led to the birth of this publication. Per mezzo di the preface you will find fundamental contributions by Tullio Moressa (Buyer of the Alajmo group), Sandro Camilli Presidenate Ais , Chiara Giorleo Journalist and Trainer and Pietro Marchi President AIS Umbria), con addition to the thanks to the sponsors of the event and to the Municipality of Metropoli nato da Maniero, who allow Only Wine to go ahead with an ethics and an approach other than those of most of the entertainment events.
Happy reading and good trip, Francesco Saverio Russo
PS: any references are synonymous with product craftsmanship! :-p
