Slow Wine has launched its first wine guide in English – as an app for iPhone and iPad.
Slow Wine 2011 lists 8,400 wines from 1850 wineries, chosen not only on quality of wine but on the green credentials of the winery.
This is the first Slow Wine guide since the Slow Food organisation broke away from the eminent Gamberro Rosso wine guide, with which it had worked for more than 20 years.
Slow Wine 2011 was published in book form in Italian in 2010. The editors claim to have visited over 2000 wineries, while each wine is tasted three times at local, regional and national level.
All chemicals – for example copper sulphates in the vineyard – fertilizers, pesticides, and yeast types are listed for each winery. Wineries’ biodynamic or organic regimes are also detailed.
Wineries are linked to googlemaps, and the app allows users to add their own tasting notes.
The producers listed are eclectic: as well as Italy’s most renowned wineries, there are many smaller producers without international distribution, making wine for local consumption.
One of these, Enrico Togni of Togni Rebaioli in Lombardy – who produces a total of 20,000 bottles of Barbera and Nebbiolo – told Decanter.com at the London launch that he sells his wine only within Lombardy, but hopes inclusion in the guide will lead to wider distribution.
Producers at the launch said they found the Guide’s approach refreshing.
‘The focus is on how the wine is made, not on points,’ Federico Orsi of Vigneto San Vito said – a comment that was echoed by Aljoscha Goldschmidt of Fattoria Corzano e Paterno in Tuscany.
‘For us producers it’s a more relaxing approach,’ he said. ‘And it encourages us to focus more on the vineyard and winemaking, rather than pleasing journalists.’
The app, which is currently only available on iPhone and iPad, will be on sale in the UK within the next few weeks at around €5 with a free scaled-down version restricted to 200 wines.
Written by Adam Lechmere
