What do folks think of Gambero Rosso?

I've been following this series for a number of years, and it seems to be a bit conflicted -- too profitable to kill, too commercial to fit the Slow Food principles. I wonder whether I'm really in touch with how useful the series is to Italian wine lovers.

Bob,
This is strictly secondhand information, as I have no dealings with the red shrimp, but Italianophiles of my acquaintance complain that the wines awarded multiple bicchieri tend to be of the spoofulated ilk, making their association with Slow Food all the more mystifying.

Mark Lipton

Bob,
This is strictly secondhand information, as I have no dealings with the red shrimp, but Italianophiles of my acquaintance complain that the wines awarded multiple bicchieri tend to be of the spoofulated ilk, making their association with Slow Food all the more mystifying.

Mark Lipton

Somewhat true, though I think the last couple of years some more traditional producers have gotten a few of the 3B awards, at least in Piedmont. But for years it was like the DeGrazia stable and their ilk were a huge proportion of listed producers.

Very useful for contact details for wineries & for gauging general styles

Preferences are preferences. I may agree in some intances, I may not in others. FWIW I love the imprecision of what is either a 3, 4 or 5 point scale (depending whether you include no glasses and differentiate between 2 glasses and 2 glasses but making the taste-off for 3 glasses).

The text is generally pretty poor, often with some fawning praise of the consultant or winemaker, with some far too brief references to the wines.

I used to dislike the alphabetical ordering by village/commune, then by producer, but does make some sense if visiting the region.

Coverage is wide, but way off being complete - that perhaps is an impossible task given the volume of wine produced in Italy

Useful overall vintage chart (in that it has a few years on it), but even more scope for disagreeing with the ratings.

No drinking windows. Always an imprecise science, but after all isn't Barolo and Brunello meant to age well - so why no reference to potential longevity? Even a short/medium/long cellaring classification would be useful.

The consistency is sometimes criticised (same wines, same consultants winning the 3 glasses), but what's the alternative? Random ratings?

More sinister, I've seen accusations of favouritism / victimisation - or worse. All unsubstantiated from what I can tell and maybe typical of the Italian sense of intrigue. Personally I don't but into these allegations, though some in the industry do.

For me the guide is one of the weaker ones, yet still the best I've seen in Italy. The Luca Maroni guide by way of comparison had an interesting 3 way split on rating (Consistency, equilibrium and integrity), however a succession of points with no words, production data and pointless statistcial analyses of the numbers make for a quite appalling guide. I got it with the aim of improving my Italian whilst trying another perspective out, not the refresh my statistics knowedge!

I have about 6 copies of Gambero Rosso and will occasionally back-fill via 2nd hand copies (generally from the US).

If anyone can recommend a good Italian wine annual (based on my whining above) then I'm all ears!

regards

Ian