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Rating: 
Summary: Fine Itlain Wine Book - At Last
Review: I have been searching long and hard for a book on Italian wines that does seek to complicated an already difficult region and Mr Belfrage has succeded with aplomb.The vineyard and wine description are concise, well laid aout and interesting to read. He raises intellegant points about producers and their wines and manages to encapsulate something of the spirit of this vast region. Three cheers and I look forward to the Tuscan series.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book for Wines of Northern Italy
Review: Nicolas Belfrage has used his extensive wine knowledge and more importantly his excellent understanding of Italy to write a book for the serious wine lover. Belfrage takes you completely across northern Italy and describes the wines of each area. While he doesn't give vintage charts for the wines, he does discuss the recognized better producers which allows the reader to find the wines and make his own decisions. More maps and some color pictures would have made the book more visually appealing, but would have increased the cost and made the book less travel friendly. It's definitely a condensed source of information that will prove very useful to the Italian tourist/wine traveler. I've been fortunate enough to have seen many of the wine areas in northern Italy. I wish I would have had this book with me. On my next trip, Belfrage's book will be packed in my carry-on.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for Wines of Northern Italy
Review: Nicolas Belfrage has used his extensive wine knowledge and more importantly his excellent understanding of Italy to write a book for the serious wine lover. Belfrage takes you completely across northern Italy and describes the wines of each area. While he doesn't give vintage charts for the wines, he does discuss the recognized better producers which allows the reader to find the wines and make his own decisions. More maps and some color pictures would have made the book more visually appealing, but would have increased the cost and made the book less travel friendly. It's definitely a condensed source of information that will prove very useful to the Italian tourist/wine traveler. I've been fortunate enough to have seen many of the wine areas in northern Italy. I wish I would have had this book with me. On my next trip, Belfrage's book will be packed in my carry-on.
Rating:
Summary: Not good enough !
Review: This book is a disappointment ! Having bought other Faber books (publisher) I had expected a well-written walk-through of Northern Italy with extensive descriptions of many producers, many tasting notes and vintage charts. Verdict ? There are absolutely no vintage charts, the description of the vineries are superficial, the book is badly organised (no headers to indicate where you are in the book, for quick look-ups) and generally no specifications to the producers individual Wines. To me, this is a 'blah-blah' book... Conclusion: NOT recommendable, neither to the amateur nor the 'pro'
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide to the wines of Northern Italy
Review: Those who have read the Faber & Faber guides to wine regions such as Burgundy, Alsace and the Rhône valley and expect something similar, may be disappointed, but of course you can't squeeze that much into about 350 pages. What we get instead is a kind of long essay which covers Italy north of Tuscany. Belfrage still manages, almost miraculously, to cover quite a number of producers (including some that are not included in the Slow Food/Gambero Rosso annual guide to Italian wines), and, what's more, he gives you an idea of what's going on. A very useful update ten years after Burton Andreson's groundbreaking atlas. If you want to know more, you need to read Italian (and get the regional guides published by Slow Food).
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide to the wines of Northern Italy
Review: Those who have read the Faber & Faber guides to wine regions such as Burgundy, Alsace and the Rhône valley and expect something similar, may be disappointed, but of course you can't squeeze that much into about 350 pages. What we get instead is a kind of long essay which covers Italy north of Tuscany. Belfrage still manages, almost miraculously, to cover quite a number of producers (including some that are not included in the Slow Food/Gambero Rosso annual guide to Italian wines), and, what's more, he gives you an idea of what's going on. A very useful update ten years after Burton Andreson's groundbreaking atlas. If you want to know more, you need to read Italian (and get the regional guides published by Slow Food).
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