Italy in a Wineglass: The Story of Italy Through Its Wines

Marc Millon

Book cover for Italy in a Wineglass: The Story of Italy Through Its Wines
Book cover for Italy in a Wineglass: The Story of Italy Through Its Wines

Italy in a Wineglass: The Story of Italy Through Its Wines

Italy in a Wineglass: The Story of Italy Through Its Wines

Marc Millon

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Description

A leading travel writer guides readers on a sumptuous journey through time and flavor to understand how and why wine transformed Italy

'What a brilliant idea! Marc Millon takes us on a breezy, boozy tour through Italy's past, serving up bite-sized historical summaries with wine pairings to reveal how wine flavours history, and history flavours wine. Bring your corkscrew!' -- Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Italy has a fascinating history, one that has profoundly influenced Western civilization. But the fact that it only became a unified nation in 1861 has meant that its rich and varied story is not well known, even to the 94 million visitors who travel there every year.

This book will change that. Italy in a Wineglass offers a digestible means into understanding Italy's influence on our world by linking its history - events, eras, personalities, movements and more - to the country's wonderful, varied and accessible wines.

From the Phoenicians to Dante, from fascism to feminism, the book delves into the events, individuals and movements throughout the centuries, seen through the prism of Italy's wines and how those wines, in turn, have shaped our world. You will learn about:

  • Villa dei Misteri, a wine produced on a vineyard cultivated actually within Pompeii itself, the vines trained exactly as they would have been on that fateful day in August AD 79
  • Possessione Rosso, produced on a wine estate north of Verona that has been in the hands of direct descendants of Dante Alighieri from the time when the poet was sent into exile
  • Barolo Mirafiore, produced on a wine estate that the first king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, granted to his mistress Rosa Vercellana
  • Centopassi by Libera Terra made from grapes grown on lands confiscated from the Mafia
  • Brunello di Montalcino 'Prime Donne', a wine crafted entirely by women at every phase of production, including blending by a female international panel of experts

Part history lesson and part wine tasting, Millon brings the flavors of Italy to life in a quenching tale of vinification and power, melding history, journalism, and travel with the sensations of Italy.

About the Author

Marc Millon has been travelling, eating, drinking, learning and writing about wine, food and travel for nearly 40 years.

Marc is the author of 14 books and has been published on both sides of the Atlantic. Marc also writes for Food & Travel Magazine, and he formerly had a monthly wine column for many years in Italy Magazine. He is a certified Vinitaly International Academy Italian Wine Ambassador and regularly lectures and hosts gastronomic cultural tours in Italy, France and England with Martin Randall Travel. His regular weekly podcast, 'Wine, Food and Travel with Marc Millon, ' on the Italian Wine Podcast channel regularly attracting several thousands of listens per show. He has extensive contacts within the world of Italian wine and culture, as well as in the world of wine, food and travel.

When he is not on the road, he lives on the River Exe in Topsham, Devon, England.

Critical Reviews

"compulsory reading" - The International Wine Review

"Perfect for fans of travel, history, Italy, and wine, Italy in a Wineglass has it all." - Will Travel for Wine

'The product of Marc Millon's lifelong passion for Italy, this fascinating account of the place of wine in Italian life over the centuries is an utterly absorbing read. Enjoy it with a good glass of vino to hand!' -- Fiona Beckett, Guardian wine writer

"diverse, multilayered and attractive" --Forbes

'What a brilliant idea! Marc Millon takes us on a breezy, boozy tour through Italy's past, serving up bite-sized historical summaries with wine pairings to reveal how wine flavours history, and history flavours wine. Bring your corkscrew!' -- Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in 6 Glasses

'Marc Millon is a true Italian wine ambassador, and no one is better equipped to tell this story. His mouth-watering history had me drooling from the very first chapter! Packed full of personal observations and insights, it is essential reading for anyone interested in Italian wine, its past, present and future.' -- Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International

'It is no negligible task to wander through the meanders of Italian culture, with which wine is so intertwined, and to grasp such an extensive history of radical transformations. Marc Millon juggles this venture with enviable mastery.' -- Piero Mastroberardino, President of the Mastroberardino winery

'An intriguing and clever way to view Italy's history. Italy in a Wineglass is full of curious facts and historical diversions. Best of all it helps me to make sense of the wine aisle in my local supermarket here in Genoa.' -- Nicholas Walton, author of Genoa, 'La Superba'

'A delectable, Epicurean celebration of the profound role wine has played, and continues to play, in Italian society. Millon's history is hedonistic and thought-provoking in equal measure.' -- Jamie Mackay, author of The Invention of Sicily

'It's not often that a wine writer can engross and enthrall you with the history of a culture where wine merely plays its part along with many other players. Marc Millon does this absorbingly and impressively, telling the intriguing, exasperating, but ultimately optimistic story of Italy and its wines.' -- Oz Clarke, broadcaster, wine writer and author of The History of Wine in 100 Bottles and Wine by the Glass

'Millon is a great storyteller with decades of experience of Italy's wines, wineries and winemakers. Read it for an insider's view of the Italian winemaking tradition, and a richly entertaining account of the country's history seen through the bottom of a wine glass.' -- Helena Attlee, author of Lev's Violin: An Italian Adventure and The Land Where Lemons Grow

'Italy in a Wineglass gathers a multitude of small stories and anecdotes from which the enchantment of the richest land of vineyards arises. An excellent literary work, an innovative contribution to wine writing.' -- Sandro Boscaini, President of the Masi Agricola winery

Publishing Information

Publisher: Melville House Publishing
Pub date: 2024-05-21
Length: 336 pages

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