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Bàcari in Venezia

By Stephan Eichinger

The Culinaris book, distributed by Tre Torri and of well-known quality, tells the stories of twelve bàcari, or wine bars, in the lagoon city of Venice. Atmospheric and partly large-scale photos by Jakob Brandis show many facets of the city, the people and the described restaurants.

As a native Venetian, the author has the invaluable advantage of speaking the local dialect and thus being able to elicit the secrets of the men and women behind the bar. These include not only the histories of the individual establishments, but also an old recipe or two for the many appetizers on offer. The grape varieties of the open and bottled wines available are explained as well as the origin and preparation method of the culinary delicacies.

Manuela Zardo, who now lives in Munich and Umbria, has a doctorate in German studies, is a travel book author, guide and vintner, and invites us to her city with all its picturesque canals, alleys and corners, on the giro de ombre, the procession through the wine taverns.

Here we learn, for example, that in addition to the many seafood dishes from the lagoon, we can also taste various varieties of mallard, garganey, teal and whistling duck. Classics such as sarde in saor or risi e bisi are described in detail.

A glossary of Venetian terms with columns in Venetian, Italian and German as well as an address section with opening hours and days off complete the book and make it the ideal preparation for a trip to Venice. After reading it for about an hour, it is hard to resist the temptation to set off straight away.

Bàcari in Venezia
Texts: Manuela Zardo, photos: Jakob Brandis
Edited by Hellmuth Zwecker
5., revised edition
Culinaris, Munich 2011
ISBN 978-3-941641-10-5

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Stephan Eichinger

Italian wines - the soul of Italy

By Telsche Peters

What a lovely subject, sighs the die-hard Italy fan, wine from the Apennine Peninsula! The new volume "Zeit für Italiens Weine" (Time for Italy's Wines) from the Bruckmann publishing house already promises a lot in the title and then also at first glance (the photos are extremely beautiful). However, on closer inspection, it does not keep all its promises.

The author Dagmar Kluthe portrays numerous vintners from South Tyrol to Sicily, and the portraits are accurate and quite interesting for people with little knowledge about Italian wines. Unfortunately, she shimmies too much along the "usual suspects", and thus, the book is a repetition of numerous other wine guides that already populate the market. It lacked the courage or the time to also search for and find (still) unknown yet excellent winemakers.

And: In part, the volume is incomplete. For instance, the information is missing that the Mastrojanni wine estate in Montalcino has been owned by Riccardo Illy, vice president of the coffee group of the same name, for several years. This seems cursorily researched.

However, the extensive tips for restaurants, hotels and sights are helpful and detailed. The detailed information boxes describing the portrayed wineries are also very nice.

Conclusion: A book that introduces wine laymen to the basics of the Italian world of wine. For "professionals" it remains rather unsatisfactory.

Telsche Peters

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