Attention Mr. Scarpitti.....

Gross generalisation based on ignorance and stereotyping from a hysterical poster. "By far the great volume" of French wine could be labelled the same way.

The point is that I have to expend a lot of effort to learn about and find these Italian wines. They're not at the supermarket. I live in Ohio. Several local winesellers are very sharp, and Roger Gentile in particular is quite keen on Italian wines. He goes there regularly and visits the winieries. He knows many producers quite well. Often I will mention a wine from an article or book I have read, and he'll try to get it for me. That's how I got hold of the Valentini Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, the most wonderful white I have ever drunk (and I HAVE drunk a $50 Mersault). As a result, I admit that I know nothing about Californian or F_____ wines. But I know more about Italian wines than most people who drink wine.

Yes, it's easy just to go along with the crowd and drink the usual California suspects. I don't do that.

And you are complaining about how hard you work to find out about Italian wines in Ohio?

I live in Wyoming, and my preferences run to cool climate wines (French, German, Pacific Northwest, eastern US), although I really like Italian reds because they have good acidity. I can't say that I drink enough California wines to have developed favorites, but I think some of their Cabs are good. But generally, I have to drive to places like Washington State to sample the good stuff.

So go ahead and share your experiences with undiscovered Italians. I'm sure there are a lot of them, and this group would like to hear about them.

With better people skills, you could be the next Matt Kramer, extolling the virtues of undiscovered Italian gems.

Tom Schellberg

Get a copy of the Wines of Italy by David Gleave. It's very thorough. I have learned a lot from it!