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The makers of the Gambero Rosso Vini d'Italia, which has long since become a standard work, had a small anniversary to celebrate at the presentation of the book in Munich. For 15 years now, a jury of trade journalists, producers, wine merchants and other people connected with the subject have been deciding on the weal and woe of the country's oenological products.

It started in 1987 with a print run of just 5,000 books, today there are 80,000 in Italy alone and the German and English-language editions account for another 60,000 copies. 1,500 wines and 450 producers were presented in the first edition; 33 growths received the highest award for the first time. 1,500 wines seem rather few in view of the 12,610 currently represented, but at a time when the Italian wine world was practically at rock bottom after the repercussions of the methanol scandal, 1,500 recommendations was quite a lot. One can say without hesitation that without the courageous decision to establish a new type of wine guide in the middle of the greatest crisis, Italian wine would hardly have the high status it undoubtedly deserves today.

With the new edition, in addition to the larger scope, several other changes have taken place. First of all, due to the improved manageability of the 792-page work, the usual hardcover has been sensibly dispensed with in favour of a somewhat thicker but flexible paperback cover. But the content and organisation are also new. From now on, for example, the three-glass wines, but also those with two glasses, that made it into the final selection are marked in red. In this way, a new "two-and-a-half-glass" category has been created for those wines that only just missed the top score. The "other producers" section has been significantly expanded and now includes wine ratings in addition to a brief description of the producer. To improve the transparency of the ratings, a new control system was also introduced, which should make it impossible even for the editors to change individual ratings afterwards.
After a two-year guest appearance in Berlin, the presentation of the book and the highest-awarded wines took place this time in the Action Forum on Munich's Praterinsel. In the rooms spread over two floors, there was enough space for the almost 200 producers who brought a total of 214 wines.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem was not eliminated this year either: the lack of time. It is completely impossible to get a comprehensive picture of the products on display in just 4 hours, especially since only two hours are reserved for the trade public and it gets really packed from 5 p.m. onwards, which hardly allows for a halfway serious tasting.

So this year, too, there were only a few topics that I was able to cover more or less completely. After last year's descriptions of the unknown regions, this time - also in view of the largely first-class vintages in these regions - it was mainly the classic appeals of Piedmont and Tuscany that were discussed. Several points were striking here. First of all, there seemed to be considerably more wines this year that really deserved their 3 glasses - from my point of view. At least in the two qualitatively most important wine-growing regions of Italy, there were hardly any outliers to be found. The only regrettable thing is that despite all the perfect craftsmanship, the styles continue to converge more and more. Only a few wines still really shine with their very own, unmistakable character. Unfortunately, barrique mania seems to be advancing in Piedmont as well. This not only robs Nebbiolo of some of its personality. Barbera in particular, which all too often comes across as loud and obtrusive, is rarely really enjoyable to drink, despite all its fruit and substance. Nevertheless, this time there were also quite a few wines that I would put in my cellar without hesitation.

And that alone is more than enough reason to come back next year.

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