With this, I totally agree:

“But making lists like this is like underlining a passage in a book: when you do, you erase the rest of the book.”

There is a veritable ocean full of good wine in Italy, as you well know. In defence of Wine Spectator’s lists (actually, Wine Spectator does not need me to defend them, I’m sure), I think they do help people discover new wines, and, with a little luck, if they try some of the Italian wines on this list, and like them, they will most probably pay more attention to Italian wine. If this happens, then I will be happy!

“I encourage you and your readers to go to your local wine store and talk to their sales people about the Italian wines that are available to them and taste and pair with your favorite foods.” -Good advice. I do this from time to time, but not enough – although writing about wine does help me remember what to look for. Or I can load up one of my blog posts on my Blackberry and refer to it in the wine shop.

And yes, Judith does make good points – and she knows her stuff too – she is a professional cook, after all.

Thanks for commenting, and I have subscribed to your blog’s RSS feed.

I’d love to hear more wine advice from you too.

Best regards,

Alex

@Judith you make a REALLY GREAT point about the nature of the WS list: it’s focused on big, tannic, red wines… another reason to look for lower alcohol wines, less tannic, more food friendly…

With a little luck we’ll both send each other some visitors. The italyMONDO! Italian citizenship service sounds interesting.

Quite a few Italian-Americans seem to be interested in obtaining dual-nationality -but few seem to know how to go about the process, and many do not know any Italian. This makes life difficult, so your service may be what many are looking for.

Glad you liked the post on the top Italian wine in Wine Spectator’s list. I’ll do the same again next year.

Best,

Alex