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Three terrific new books on Italian wine

Tamlyn Currin

Tamlyn Currin

Thursday 12 June 2025 • 1 min read

Italy Tuscany wine writing

Three wine books on Italy

A quirky, intimate tour of Montalcino, a pan-Italian history and a multifaceted immersion in Tuscany.

Magpie's Guide to Montalcino - book cover

The Magpie’s Guide to Montalcino
Laura R Gray
Published by Constellations Press
ISBN 9781917000031
£20, €24

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I first opened the pages of The Magpie’s Guide to Montalcino. A travel guide, maybe? A history of the place? Montalcino wine and people from a bird’s eye view? It wasn’t what I found. In fact, I was a bit baffled. Is this a dictionary? A lexicon? A sort of one-town encyclopaedia? It was definitely an A–Z of something. One eyebrow...

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