Today, I am sitting in Italy typing my blog, embarking on a wine journey because of something I read a year ago. It was Matt Kramer’s Wine Spectator column, Are you Afraid of Italian Wines? A shocking confession: Even the experts find the country’s wines daunting. Why I’m here is because I agree.
The columns focus is around he and a fellow wine writer talking shop. When the conversation leads to a very blunt and truthful statement by his friend and an agreement by most of the wine drinkers in the world including myself. “ I’m afraid of Italian wines. It’s not that I don’t’ like them,” he said. “It’s just that they’re so damned complicated. When I first started with wine, everybody told me how difficult Burgundy is how mastering Burgundy could be a life’s work. I’ll tell you one thing: Burgundy is a breeze compared to Italian wines. “ He continued with, “Italian wines seem chaotic. I hate it when I get handed the wine list in an Italian resturant, I’m supposed to know all this stuff about wine, but it’s any kind of extensive Italian wine list I’m lost. . I’m clueless. That’s why I’m afraid of Italian wines.”
So, thus sets out my journey in Italy to better grasp just one region at a time. I will begin this chaos deciphering in Chianti and will offer cliff notes along the way.