On Tuscany

Chianti is loved globally and this is the story of the region which produces it along with a number of other important wines, including the Super Tuscans. A portrait penned by the leading writers of this classic region.

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From the melée and muddle of Italy’s vinous past, Tuscany emerged triumphant. The world’s restaurants began to clamour for its Chianti and the Super Tuscan rebel-wines that captured the hearts, palates and pockets of any wine lover who sipped them. It found fame and fortune but had it gone too far…? On Tuscany’s authors unravel the truths of this enchanted vineyard – its tortured landscape of clashing mountains and upended seas, its mysterious Etruscan forebears, the Medici aristocrats and warring tribes who fought to control it. And the stoic peasants, whose thwarted creativity and intuitive ways with wine won through in the end. It tells the story of its king of grapes, Sangiovese, and the courtiers that grapple for its throne, and of the maverick winemakers who harness this region’s passion for wine today, steadying the roller coaster before it once again goes too far and too fast…


With contributions from Andrew Jefford, Hugh Johnson, Nicolas Belfrage MW, Jancis Robinson MW, David Gleave MW, Walter Speller, Gabriele Gorelli MW, Burton Anderson, Ruth Rogers, Neil Beckett, Victoria Moore, Gerald Asher, D H Lawrence, Fiona Morrison MW.