Saturday, September 4, 2010

Burton Anderson: Mi fa depressa

I am reading the 1980 edition of this book:  Vino:  The Wines and Winemakers of Italy and I feel I have been cheated.  Born in the wrong era!  This book is one of the most beautifully and poetically written books on wine I have ever read, and there are many stories about wine legends, now departed and the sensual, unforgetable but also not replicable wine they made.  This is a time before the phrase Super Tuscan, a time when there were no terms like biodynamic, sustainable, or natural wines.  Those catch phrases now used more as a marketing tool rather than an adjective describing the passion of a wine maker.    The men and women who made their wine in the traditional way, with organic and natural procecsses did it out of love, not for marketing.  This was right on the cusp, the time of the greats was peaking and Coca Cola just spent $36 million investing in Montalcino to produce more industrial crap. I am on the hunt for one of the last great bottles ever made by a Prince who spent his time tending his vineyard like it was his special, and who, to prevent his vineyard being molested by the wrong people, tore out all the vines and never looked back.  This all happened before I got out of high school.