Bel Vino

Isabella and Luigi have been living in Montalcino for ten years. Leaving behind their old lives and their old names - Isobel and Lou - they melted into a new way of life in an enchanting medieval village in the Tuscan hills, immersing themselves in curious rituals borne of ancient customs and fuelled by lingering feuds.

Returning to the hilltop village so vividly portrayed in the bestselling 'Vanilla Beans & Brodo', 'Bel Vino' is a glorious tale of legends and truths peppered with porcini hunts and wild figs, harvesting olives and purple grapes, zealous archers, ancient castles and a noble Contessa, the sweet smell of basil and sun-dried tomatoes, and the vast, mouth-watering feasts of pappardelle, wild boar and sugary crocetti, washed down with fine red win. Isabella has sensed that hidden beneath the age-old nobility, poverty and rivalry that drive the inward-looking Montalcinese, there is more to learn about the aristocratic origins of the most famous wine of all, the prestigious Brunello di Montalcino, and she sets out to unravel its tangled secrets . . .