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Wine guide birthdays - Gambero Rosso and Slow Wine

Two of Italy's most important wine guides celebrated their anniversaries last year: Gambero Rosso is now a proud 30 years old, and the Slow Wine guide published by Slow Food entered its 'darned 7th year'. Reason for a look back at the history of these two important Italian wine guides, which are the only ones that are also published in German.

Gambero Rosso

I still remember well how I held the first edition of the 'Gambero' in my hand at the end of 1987. The book, which at that time had 350 pages and 500 producers, was still quite clear and I liked it straight away. Different from the Italian wine guide I knew until then, the producers were described in detail on half a page, and each description had the same extent. Well-known stars of the Italian wine scene like Angelo Gaja from Piedmont or Biondi-Santi from Montalcino and producers unknown until then were given the same space in the book. Nobody was favoured or disadvantaged. The descriptions of the wineries did not only contain abstract figures about the size of the winery, the number of bottles produced, etc., but also individual impressions. Here, there were people on the spot who looked at every single winery, talked to the producers, and gave the reader a vivid impression of Italy's wine world. The classifications of the wines were quite simple, ranging from zero to three glasses, and easy to follow. I liked that - and I was not the only one. Soon, the 'Gambero' became the most read and most quoted wine guide in Italy - both by consumers and producers. An entry in the 'Gambero' was considered as a special honor by the former, and the awards achieved were communicated with pride, above all when in the end it was the highest award, the '3 bicchieri'. In the following years, this award attracted more and more attention in the Italian wine world and the producers who received this award quickly emptied their cellars. Unfortunately, this also led to the fact that this highest award was more and more in the foreground and not the work of the 'squadra' on the spot, which regularly visited the single wineries and described their development. In addition, over the years, there was a tendency to award more and more wines with an international style. Admittedly, (almost) all of them were well made, but with increasing cellar perfection, they lost more and more of their independence and of the very drinkability that has always characterized so many Italian wines. As in many Anglo-Saxon guides, it was above all wood-heavy oenological blockbusters that were awarded to an increasing extent, and drinkable Italian classics took a back seat. As a result, many wines were made by producers to please the Gambero tasters. In the beginning, this brought some producers remarkable commercial successes, but as time went by, more and more critics came to the scene. In the 90ies, the MERUM magazine published the list of the '3 bicchieri' wines under the headline: 'The beaver parade'. This was certainly exaggerated, because even then, the top-awarded wines included traditional classics like the Barolo of Bartolo Mascarello, Bruno Giacosa and others. But the criticism was more than justified - and it had an effect. The tasters of the Gambero magazine remembered again what makes the wine country Italy and awarded more and more typical, easy-drinking wines with their '3 bicchieri'. Wines that also have the advantage of being affordable for wine lovers whose wallets are not as bulging.

In its 30th year, the 'Gambero' presents itself as a wine guide which, with 2,400 producers, provides one of the most comprehensive insights into the Italian wine world and which has done a lot for the domestic wine with the return to the independence of Italian wines during the past decade. More and more attention is also being paid to the 'green side' of winemaking here. In addition to the 'normal' 3 glasses, the '3 bicchieri verdi', i.e. the organically produced top wines, have been highlighted for some years now.

Slow Wine

Slow Wine', the wine guide of Slow Food Italy, emerged from the 'Gambero'. In March 2007, the official separation took place. The reasons for this were mainly the aforementioned development of the 'Gambero' in the 90s and early 2000s, when 'Il Grande Vino' became more and more important, while the real 'Vino Italiano' received less and less attention. Moreover, the Slow Food wine officials were disturbed by the almost exclusive fixation on the evaluation of the wines and the related neglect of the description of the producers' work. They wanted - so the bold announcement before the first publication of 'Slow Wine' - "a wine guide without rating". What was important was the presentation of the producers - how they work, which wine philosophy they represent, which personalities they are. For this purpose, as in the early years of the 'Gambero', all producers were visited. (Slow Food Italy with its many wine-mad supporters has the best prerequisites for this). However, the promise of non-evaluation could not be completely kept - and probably for a good reason, they did not want to. After all, a wine guide is supposed to offer an orientation, and for this, certain symbols, which in the end also represent a rating, are indispensable. However, the classification at Slow Wine obeys other, more differentiated criteria. Besides the award 'Top Wine' ('Grande Vino') and the classification 'Top Producer' ('la bottiglia'), where the wine quality is awarded independent of the way it is produced, 'Slow Wine' has the 'Vino Slow' as an award for wines that meet the Slow Food criteria of sustainability and typicality of origin particularly well. The Slow Food emblem, the snail ('la chiocciola'), is also awarded to producers who meet these criteria. There is also the coin ('la moneta') for producers with a large number of good quality, low-priced wines on offer and the € symbol for wines with a particularly good price/quality ratio. The most important award at 'Slow Wine' is certainly the snail or the wine award 'Vino Slow'. As of the 2017 edition, these two ratings are only awarded to wineries that work without herbicides. In view of the importance these awards have meanwhile in Italy, this is a very good decision, which will certainly make sure that even more producers will take the 'green way' in wine production. So far, Slow Wine has consistently followed the practice of visiting all producers every year, which is why this guide is highly appreciated by small, artisan producers. As of 2016, the circle of these producers has expanded beyond Italy. In a time where, unfortunately, people are thinking more and more narrow-mindedly nationally, 'Slow Wine' is going the opposite way and is bringing together again what was once separated by arbitrarily drawn borders by including the Slovenian parts of the Italian wine growing areas Collio and Carso in Friuli in the 2017 wine guide.

In summary, I can say that both guides, with their increasingly ecological orientation and their (re)focus on classic Italian wines, have taken a pleasing development and are an enrichment of Italian wine culture every year anew. I find it regrettable that sometimes in one, sometimes in the other (sometimes also in both) some important wineries are missing, above all among the smaller producers. The reasons for this vary. Some producers have an elephantine memory regarding ratings they didn't like in the past and don't send in wines anymore, even though - especially in the Gambero - a lot has changed in the meantime. Many of the smaller producers often overlook the deadlines in their daily work, which is becoming more and more time-consuming. Another reason - which certainly should not be underestimated - is the multitude of wine guides in Italy. To send wines to all important Italian guides plus possibly three or four international guides can - depending on the range of products - cost up to half a pallet of sample bottles, which then also have to be sent individually. So, one or both of the certainly most important Italian wine guides can go empty-handed.

Since both the Gambero Rosso and Slow Wine are available in a German edition, they are presented in Germany within the scope of two events. The 'Gambero' will start on January 30 in Munich with the presentation of selected wineries that have received the '3 bicchieri' in the 2017 guide. On February 20, 'Slow Wine' will follow, also in Munich, with 50 selected vintners presenting their current vintages.

Detailed information can be found at these links:

Gambero Rosso: "Tre bicchieri 2017" Monday, January 30, 2017 in Munich
Slow Wine: "Slow Wine 2017" Monday, February 20, 2017 in Munich

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