Italian Wine, Italian Wine Book

Now that we’ve established the Wine Book Club, let’s get down to the details:

The book—Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch.

Who’s hosting—David McDuff from McDuff’s Food and Wine Trail

The deadline for your book report—Tuesday, February 26

Remember, we have more time than we do for Wine Blogging Wednesday!

Oh, and by the way, this ties into Wine Blogging Wednesday #41 which has an Italian theme:Friuli white wines, hosted by Fork and Bottle. This one is due next Wednesday (didn’t I breathe a sigh of relief upon finding out it wasn’t tomorrow) January 16. I’m going to get on it after work, as Jack and Joanne have warned it might involve a search.

Speaking of Italy and books, I was reading Eat, Pray, Love on the airplane and found myself more than a little envious of Elizabeth Gilbert’s adventures in the country of pasta and pleasure. When she writes of the comparison between speaking the language and opening a bottle of wine, I found myself smiling, despite the cramped seats and lack of sleep.    She says:

      ‘Me la cavo,’  is how you would say it in Italian, which basically means, “I can get by,” but comes from the same verb you use to talk about uncorking a bottle of wine, meaning, “I can use this language to extract myself from tight situations.”….

     I can speak this language! The kid thinks I like him, but it’s the words I’m flirting with. My God—I have decanted myself! I have uncorked my tongue, and Italian is pouring forth.

Just as she finds the language romantic, so too, sometimes, is the perception of wine. Combining the two just makes for a better story…