Slow Food launches new wine guide

Slow Wine 2011 was launched today at the eighth biennial Salone del Gusto food show in Turin.

The new guide has been set up as an alternative to the established Gambero Rosso wine guide.

It rejects points-based ratings in favour of qualitative assessments. It also embraces the anti-globalisation philosophy of the Slow Food movement.

Slow Food, which itself evolved in response to a 1986 scandal in which Italian wine was adulterated with methanol, was until recently a partner in the Gambero Rosso guide.

Slow Wine, which covers only Italian wines, to visit each winery and vineyard and conduct extensive interviews with the winemakers to determine whether the wines merit inclusion.

The publishers say they made over 2,000 visits to appraise the 1,833 cellars included in the current edition.

‘Thanks to more thorough and meticulous research, we are able to evaluate the wineries as well as the wines,’ say editors Giancarlo Gariglio and Fabio Giavedoni.

‘We look at what is beyond: the people that work in the winery, the vineyards and the cultivation methods, the cellar and the style of vinification. This has led to a new appraisal of the cellars.’