Inside the book

The book is a schoolroom guide to cellar reform in the first decade of unified Italy, cast as the "Veglie del Signor Lorenzo" ("Evening Lessons of Signor Lorenzo"), a series of conversations in which an experienced winemaker instructs his friends. The preface"opens with Carlo Ridolfi's principle that good wine begins with soil, sun, and the quality of the vine, but depends equally on careful cultivation, a diligent harvest, and regular vinification. Garelli then identifies the problem his book means to correct: science has moved forward while practice has stood still. "Veglia Prima" ("First Evening") begins in the vineyard, moving through the harvest, pruning, "svettatura" (topping the shoots), "spampanatura" (leaf removal), cultivation between the rows, and even precautions against theft in the fields. At its center is the "gleucometro" (must sugar meter), used to determine the proper moment for harvest. It becomes a small emblem of Garelli's whole program of reform: ripeness, traditionally judged by the inherited eye and palate of the grower, can now be measured in the must. "Veglia Seconda" and "Veglia Terza" ("Second Evening" and "Third") follow the grapes into the cellar: mechanical crushing, additions of sugar, cooked must, and alcohol; the timing of "svinatura" drawing the new wine off the skins); open versus closed vats; and comparisons with practices in Lorraine and Burgundy. Fermentation is discussed through the work of Ladrey and Guyot and condensed into the memorable maxim, "il vino si forma nei tini e si migliora nelle botti" ("wine is formed in the vats and improved in the casks").