Sangiovese, Lambrusco and Other Vine Stories

Behind the cultivation of grape vines and their fruits’ fermented juice lies a history of peoples who worked the land, transformed the landscape, produced and traded wines, thus forging local and global communities. In this book, vine geneticists and experts Attilio Scienza and Serena Imazio reconstruct the lineage of wine: using DNA analysis, archaeology, anthropology, myth, and literary sources, they discuss the origin and ancestry of vines such as Sangiovese, Ribolla, Primitivo, and the many Moscato, Malvasia and Lambrusco grapes. Chapters also cover more widely planted varieties such as Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, and Pinot, as well as the impact of the phylloxera epidemic in the 19th century. In a scientific yet accessible way, Sangiovese, Lambrusco and Other Vine Stories illuminates the complex interaction between human communities and vines, in a journey which will reveal riveting stories of migration, conquest, exploration and cross-cultural exchange.