Episode 2465

Ep. 2465 Kevin Day | Book Club with Richard Hough

Book Club

September 12, 2025

4210.4946

Kevin Day

Book Discussion

wine

Episode Summary

<think> I need to create a concise content analysis of the provided text, which is a transcript of Episode 2465 of the Italian Wine Podcast featuring Kevin Day discussing his book "Opening a Bottle: Italy Stories from the Heart of Italian Wine and 100 Wines to Admire." Let me analyze the key elements of this text to create the required analysis: **Key Themes:** 1. The importance of storytelling in wine writing - Kevin emphasizes how his background in photography and writing led him to focus on telling compelling stories about Italian wine, winemakers, and regions. 2. Diversity of Italian wine regions and grape varieties - He discusses Italy's unique position with more native grape varieties than any other country, and how regional isolation has preserved this diversity. 3. The concept of "conviviality" in Italian wine culture - Kevin describes how Italian wine is deeply connected to community, sharing, and the Italian way of life. 4. Self-publishing challenges and opportunities - He shares his experience of independently publishing his book, including design considerations, funding, and marketing challenges. 5. Heroic viticulture and lesser-known regions - Kevin focuses on highlighting "heroic" wine regions (like Mount Etna) and lesser-celebrated areas that deserve more attention. **Summary:** The podcast episode features Kevin Day, founder of Opening a Bottle and author of "Opening a Bottle: Italy," discussing his journey into Italian wine, his book's creation, and his philosophy on wine writing. Day explains how his initial tourist experiences in Italy evolved into a deep passion for Italian wine, particularly drawn to its connection to place, history, and culture. His book features stories from Italy's diverse wine regions, profiles of winemakers (particularly those preserving native grape varieties), and a curated list of 100 compelling Italian wines organized from south to north rather than the traditional north-to-south approach. Day chose self-publishing to maintain creative control, especially for the photography elements, despite the challenges of handling all aspects of publication himself. He emphasizes writing for both beginners and wine enthusiasts while capturing the spirit of conviviality that defines Italian wine culture. **Key Takeaways:** - Italian wine's uniqueness stems from historical regional isolation that preserved diverse native grape varieties - Day's book intentionally starts with Sicily (rather than northern regions) to highlight southern Italy's wine renaissance - The "100 Wines to Admire" section is curated to showcase both celebrated regions and lesser-known areas - Self-publishing allowed creative control but required handling all aspects from design to sales tax compliance - Wine writing should capture both the technical aspects and the human stories behind the bottles - "Conviviality" - the Italian spirit of sharing and community around wine - is central to understanding Italian wine culture **Notable Quotes:** - "Italy excels at epiphanies. If you gaze into the eyes of Michelangelo's David, you will see that stone can come to life. If you listen to Vivaldi, you'll understand that the seasons have a sound." - "Not only aren't these the one hundred most compelling wines that I've encountered in my journey reporting on Italian wine for ten plus years, but here they are, you know, from top to bottom and curated so that we're not leaning too heavily on maybe some of the traditional fine wine regions, but we're really getting into some of the, you know, exotic wines that maybe we haven't heard of before or wine regions that are maybe not as celebrated but should be celebrated." - "Conviviality means, you know, friendliness, but it's always feels like it's deeper than that. It's authentic. It's a spirit of authenticity and a way of life." **Follow-up Questions:** 1. How might climate change specifically impact the preservation of Italy's native grape varieties that Day emphasizes as central to Italian wine's identity? 2. What practical advice would Day give to aspiring wine writers looking to develop their own voice while navigating the technical aspects of wine description? 3. Given Day's focus on "heroic viticulture," what specific challenges do these extreme vineyard sites face that might require innovative solutions in the coming decades? Now I'll craft this into the required format with the word limits. </think> **Content Analysis** **Key Themes (max 5 points)** 1. Storytelling as the heart of wine writing - Kevin Day emphasizes how his background in photography and writing led him to focus on compelling narratives about Italian wine regions and producers. 2. Italy's extraordinary wine diversity - The conversation highlights Italy's unique position with more native grape varieties than any other country, preserved through historical regional isolation. 3. The spirit of "conviviality" - Day identifies this Italian concept of authentic community, sharing, and connection around wine as central to understanding Italian wine culture. 4. Self-publishing challenges and rewards - The discussion details Day's decision to independently publish his photography-rich book to maintain creative control despite significant logistical hurdles. 5. Heroic viticulture and underrepresented regions - Day deliberately highlights lesser-known areas and "heroic" vineyards (like Mount Etna) that deserve greater recognition alongside traditional fine wine regions. **Summary (max 200 words)** The podcast episode features Kevin Day discussing his book "Opening a Bottle: Italy Stories from the Heart of Italian Wine and 100 Wines to Admire." Day explains how his initial tourist experiences in Italy evolved into a deep passion for Italian wine, particularly drawn to its connection to place, history, and culture. His book features vivid stories from diverse Italian wine regions, profiles of winemakers preserving native grape varieties, and a curated list of 100 compelling Italian wines uniquely organized from south to north rather than the traditional north-to-south approach. Day chose self-publishing to maintain creative control over both writing and photography elements, despite challenges like handling sales tax compliance and distribution. He emphasizes writing for both beginners and wine enthusiasts while capturing the spirit of "conviviality" that defines Italian wine culture. The conversation reveals how Day's background as a storyteller and photographer shaped his approach to wine writing, with particular focus on the human elements behind the bottles and the importance of preserving Italy's extraordinary viticultural diversity. **Key Takeaways (max 6 points)** - Italian wine's uniqueness stems from historical regional isolation that preserved diverse native grape varieties, creating distinctive regional identities - Day's book intentionally starts with Sicily to highlight southern Italy's wine renaissance and challenge traditional wine region hierarchies - The "100 Wines to Admire" section showcases both celebrated regions and lesser-known areas, with most wines priced accessibly ($20-30 range) - Self-publishing allowed creative control but required handling all aspects from design to sales tax compliance, making it "exhausting" but rewarding - Wine writing should balance technical knowledge with human stories to capture both the science and soul of wine - "Conviviality" - the Italian spirit of authentic community and sharing around wine - is presented as essential to understanding Italian wine culture **Notable Quotes (max 3)** - "Italy excels at epiphanies. If you gaze into the eyes of Michelangelo's David, you will see that stone can come to life. If you listen to Vivaldi, you'll understand that the seasons have a sound." - "Not only aren't these the one hundred most compelling wines that I've encountered in my journey reporting on Italian wine for ten plus years, but here they are... curated so that we're not leaning too heavily on maybe some of the traditional fine wine regions, but we're really getting into some of the exotic wines that maybe we haven't heard of before." - "Conviviality means friendliness, but it's always feels like it's deeper than that. It's authentic. It's a spirit of authenticity and a way of life." **Follow-up Questions (max 3)** 1. How might climate change specifically impact the preservation of Italy's native grape varieties that Day identifies as central to Italian wine's identity? 2. What practical advice would Day give to aspiring wine writers seeking to develop their own voice while navigating the technical aspects of wine description? 3. Given Day's focus on "heroic viticulture," what specific challenges do these extreme vineyard sites face that might require innovative solutions in the coming decades?

About This Episode

The speakers emphasize the importance of understanding the history and local wines in Italy's wine culture, as well as the success of their book Open a bottle Italy. They also discuss the challenges of independent publishing and creating a niche book, as well as the importance of diversity in Italian wine production and the need for farmers to adapt to changing conditions. Speakers recommend a mix of new and old wines, as well as their plans to publish a book and get a second version of a previous book. They express their desire to get a second version of a previous book and thank their audience for their time.

Transcript

Okay. Not only aren't these the one hundred most compelling wines that I've encountered in my journey reporting on Italian wine for ten plus years, but here they are, you know, from top to bottom and curated so that we're not leaning too heavily on maybe some of the traditional fine wine regions, but we're really getting into some of the, you know, you know, exotic wines that maybe we haven't heard of before or wine regions that are maybe not as celebrated but should be celebrated. Hello, and welcome to book club with the Italian wine podcast. I'm your host, Richard Hoff, and I'm delighted that you're joining us as we get between the vines with some of the best wine writing out there. So sit back, pour yourself a glass and enjoy the show with the Italian wine podcast. This month. Okay. So it's Kevin Day, the founder of the digital magazine, opening a bottle dot com, and author of opening a bottle, Italy. Stories from the heart of Italian wine and a hundred wines to admire. Hi, Kevin. Welcome to the show and thanks for agreeing to be our guest today and a massive congratulations on your book. I really loved it. Fascinating stories expertly told but a word of warning this book will really make you want to drink Italian wine and visit Italy. And so yeah. Thanks, Kevin. How are you? I'm great. Thank you, Richard. Mission accomplished, I guess. Yeah. It's easy for me. I live in Italy, so I can drink Italian wine and visit live in it whenever I want, but Yeah. Lucky you. I thought I'd, foreborn and, you know, is about to be desperate who who might have further to travel. I often tell people that as a writer and photographer, the reason I do this is that I never got over show and tell as a kid. So so to hear you say that it'll make people wanna, thirst for Italian wine, I guess, show and tell I did well. Yeah. Yeah. You're at primary school teacher. We'll be proud of you. I'm sure. Let's start at the beginning, Kevin. Tell us, how did you first get into wine? And more particularly, how did you get into Italian wine? Or what is it about Italian wine that is of particular interest to you? Yeah. It's been a a long journey. Like, I think for a lot of people. It started as a tourist my first visit to Italy was in two thousand five with my wife. We were, in our twenties. We'd saved up for this trip. We had it really meant a lot to her because she had studied abroad in Florence when she was in college. I had never been to Europe before. And for me, it was just an immediately eye opening to visit Italy. I think a lot of people have that kind of experience when they first come, particularly just speaking on the behalf of Americans who visit Italy. That's kinda what my I I start in my book with is the notion of epiphanies. And wine wine is, you know, something that complements food, and we've always been really into cooking together. And it was just as we started kind of traveling around, I don't mention this in the book, but one of the first wines that caught my attention was actually a La Grime because we went to Bolzano as our second stop And I'd never heard of La Grine, and it tasted just totally different and novel to me. And the fact that it was local really piqued my interest. It was just, wow. That's kinda cool. So this area has its own line and you don't find that elsewhere. Okay. So everywhere I went, you know, I was kind of I had my attention up looking for different wines. It was a long time ago. It was two thousand five. In two thousand eight, we went back, and did kind of a southern swing And we ended up in Tuscany, and that's where I had, yet another epiphany, and that was, a tasting of multiple vintages of a vino nobile de Montopulciano, from Porderi San Guineto. And, it was in a wine bar and I couldn't believe that these three wines tasted so different, from one another, even though it was the same wine, and that the difference was the vintage. I think we had a two thousand three, a two thousand four, and a two thousand five. It was something like that. And I couldn't decide which one I liked the most. I just thought that was really fascinating. And so I started to see that that wine spoke a language that was tied to nature. And I've always been a nature lover in addition to being a foodie. And that just really, really piqued my interest So from there, it just kind of, it snowballed. And I took an interest in it. And and I think there's something about Italian wine that is so specific to place to origin, to culture, as well as being versatile at the table, that I just keep coming back to it. I'm curious about all lines. I think, all the major wine nations in the world all produce very unique things. This one just particularly in particular speaks to me. And that's that's kinda how I found my way into it as a hobby, but I really didn't start writing about Italian wine until two thousand fourteen. I started writing about it because I had a a business as a website content specialist, doing strategy work, content development, branded blogging. And I just really wanted some winery clients. So I thought I would try to write about wine as a way of really, you know, building my brand and getting people to notice me. And the more I did that, the more I realized I just really liked reporting about wine. I really like telling the stories. And it became more of a side endeavor, than actually a a business decision. And, you know, one thing led to another, was able to go on a few press trips to Italy, meet some extraordinary people. And, I guess, the rest is history, they say. So Along the way I did take some some formal classes with the wine scholar guild. I did the Italian wine scholar program, in in, I think it was two thousand eighteen. And that was a great foundation for me to really fill in the gaps I think it's really important with Italian wine to understand the history. It's really important to understand the soil and the geography. It's really important to understand how these native grapes came to be. And to really be able to understand that uniqueness from one region to the next. It just really helped me connect the dots on Italian wine on the big picture. And once I did that program, it became harder and harder to write about other countries that, because I just didn't have the same level of intelligence, after going through that program. I eventually did do the French wine scholar program, and right now I'm doing the Spanish wine scholar program just so I can write about those regions more knowledgeably. And I think, you know, for me, the specialty is Italian and French wine, but, but Italian wine really just in particular speaks to me. Really interesting. That really kinda opens up and explains, I suppose how you, you were able to write such a well informed and passionate and fluent bringing together that kind of scientific knowledge, but also your clear passionate enthusiasm for Italy as well. You're based in Denver, Colorado, And I I I like to get a sense from, my guests about the local wine scene where they're from. So can you tell us something? I mean, Denver Colorado, it doesn't immediately jump out as a as a wine destination or as a wine producing region, but what can you tell us about the local wine scene in Denver both in terms of wine production, but also what are consumers drinking? What are they? Of course. Habit at the moment. Of course. Yeah. You know, Colorado is a wine producing state. It's a fairly small, wine producing state only about three point five million bottles per year is what the latest figure I saw it's mostly concentrated. The grape growing is mostly concentrated, kind of in the very far western edge of the state, where, you cut close to Utah. So, you know, for international audience, if you're thinking of, you know, Monument Valley, arches National Park, you know, that landscape. Okay. It it more probably closely resembles that than it does Aspen or Vail or the mountains that you think of when you think of Colorado. Th