Romancing the Vine: Life, Love, and Transformation in the Vineyards of Barolo [Hardcover]

Alan Tardi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2006

Alan Tardi, former owner of Follonico in New York, describes his life in the Piedmonte district of Italy focusing on the cultivation and harvest of the region's celebrated Barolo wine, and including rare local recipes

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 2002 Tardi closed his New York City restaurant, Follonico, and slowly emigrated to a new life in Castiglione Falletto, a village in Italy's famous Barolo wine region of Piedmont. He was drawn away from a post–September 11 New York (where he still spends part of the year) by the love of a beautiful woman, Ivana; the reassuring natural rhythms of wine making; and the casual culinary splendor of local cooking, which he recounts in 25 recipes featuring regional and personal specialties like Renza's Chicken, Frog-Style and Grape Must Conserve. Tardi spends much of his time working Ivana's family vineyard back to life with her brother Fabrizio, relating his experience tending vineyards and giving folkloric accounts of Barolo's vinicultural history. Although Tardi himself experiences a transformation in the vineyards, readers familiar with food and wine memoirs will likely not encounter anything they haven't read before—recipes interspersed with charming anecdotes about local characters, descriptions of age-old customs, conspiratorial asides about how different his lifestyle has become—but much like the reliably good food Tardi served for years in his restaurant, his take on the healing powers of old-fashioned hard work and his guidance into his lifestyle is comforting and satisfying. (Nov.)
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From the Inside Flap

In 2001, author Alan Tardi was the chef/owner of a Manhattan restaurant, Follonico, where his Italian dishes were embraced both by critics and a loyal following of “foodies”.  That summer, he decided to close his restaurant, refocused his priorities and eventually moved to a tiny hilltop village in the Piedmont district of Italy: Castiglione Falletto.  Romancing the Vine is the story of Tardi’s first year in Italy, when he learned to cultivate the vine that makes the country’s most celebrated wine, Barolo, and where he left any big-city slickness behind to immerse himself in a totally different way of life. Tardi introduces us to the tough-to-crack Piedmontese, including Renza, the barkeep and village matriarch, who is addicted to TV quiz shows; Ivana, the charming and independent woman who becomes Tardi’s girlfriend; and Ivana’s brother Fabrizio, who is struggling to reclaim his father’s abandoned vineyard in the heart of Barolo. 
 
Romancing the Vine is rich with the lore of one of Italy’s most fascinating regions, and full of detail about the cultivation of grapevines, the harvesting of the nebbiolo grapes that make Barolo, and the fermenting, tasting and bottling of the new wine itself. And, since no restaurateur could live in the Piedmont without prying loose some of its culinary secrets, Tardi studs his book with twenty-five special and authentic recipes from the region, including Pollo al Babi (Flattened Roast Chicken, “Frog-style”), Fonduta, and Torta di Nocciole (Hazelnut Cake).
 
 ROMANCING THE VINE offers a “cellar rat”’s view of a great wine harvest and an enthusiast’s look at a unique piece of Italy with all of its idiosyncratic pleasures and challenges.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (November 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031235794X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312357948
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tardi's Breakout Story, July 2, 2007

By 

Christopher Gulotta (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Romancing the Vine: Life, Love, and Transformation in the Vineyards of Barolo (Hardcover)

As a fellow Italio-American New Yorker, Mr. Tardi's quest for an NYC exit hits home. As much as we "New Yorkah's" love NY, we hope that a better lifestyle is out there and that we are able to break free to experience it. Also like Mr. Tardi, I found a similar venue for my ultimate "escape from NY"-Torino (only 45 minutes from Barolo). The combination of the author's thirst for a richer life and a delicate romance (I too am married to a beautiful Italian "testa dura") woven into age-old Piedmonte recipe's and nurtured along with tantalizing tales of the "King of Wines" results in wonderful read, that inspires the reader to eat, drink and live La Dolce Vita! Bravo Mr. Tardi! (maybe I'll run into you on July 5th when I take a day trip to your new home!)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 21, 2008

By 

Bob (Portland, Maine United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Romancing the Vine: Life, Love, and Transformation in the Vineyards of Barolo (Hardcover)

I've read many books of this genre (American/Brit starts a new life in Europe, American goes to find his roots, American/Brit leaves his or her job to pursue food or wine career in Europe, etc.), generally involving either Italy or France, and I found this one of the most disappointing. Too wordy, too self-centered, the writing made what should have been interesting stories fairly boring.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Come Taste and See, February 4, 2007

By 

M. A. DelGrosso "Millie" (Vero Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Romancing the Vine: Life, Love, and Transformation in the Vineyards of Barolo (Hardcover)

Alan Tardi has a true gift for description as evidenced in the wonderful book, Romancing the Vine. I felt as if I had been transported to Italia and dropped into the Barolo region every time I picked up the book! The people became real through his picturesque representations, and you could feel the temperatures as he worked in the vineyards, and taste the food as he sat down with the various individuals with whom he came into contact! I thoroughly enjoyed Romancing the Vine, and hope that it is only the first of many books from Signor Tardi!