Above: Chiara Ciavolich and Francesco Valentini in late July at a presentation of a new book on Loreto Aprutino by Francesco’s son Gabriele, published by a newly established consortium of Loreto Aprutino growers (image via the Custodes Laureti Facebook).

Armando Castagno, Italy’s greatest living wine writer imho, and I once got into a fight.

You can’t blame American wine writers, I told him, for not knowing or writing about a particular appellation, even despite the elevated overarching quality of the wines. It’s the producers’ fault, I argued: they should work more diligently to market their wines and themselves.

No, no, no! Armando, a good friend, admonished me. That is the very job of the wine writers! To go out and find the wines and write about them!

Armando was recently asked to present a new book on Loreto Aprutino, the Abruzzo subzone that everyone — wine writers in particular — should be talking about.

Published in a bilingual version, the English title is The Wine-Growing Lands of Loreto Aprutino, by Bologna University researcher Gabriele Valentini (not to be confused with Francesco’s son Gabriele). Not exactly a sexy title, unless like me, you are interested in understanding soil, climate, tradition, and all else that goes into the great terroirs of the world.

The group behind the project, Custodes Laureti (Latin for the guardians of Loreto Aprutino), count some of Abruzzo’s top producers as members: Amorotti, Ciavolich, De Fermo, Talamonti, Torri dei Beati, and Valentini.

But it’s the new survey of Loreto Aprutino’s history and — most significantly — its soil types and the impact of a changing climate that has me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend it to you.

The Custodes Laureti are still working on their website. But you can contact them via email at custodeslaureti@gmail.com and you can also visit their Facebook.

Over the course of my 18 months working with the Abruzzo consortium as their U.S. ambassador, I have received countless emails from wine writing colleagues asking me how to get an appointment at just one Abruzzo winery in particular, eliding the rest. I have heard would-be wine professionals wax on about the same two or three wineries — over and over again — that have appeared in the writings of a handful of bloggers and journalists.

It’s time, as Nietzsche wrote, to look behind the sacred texts. Abruzzo wine country has so much for us to discover. American wine writers, your work is cut out for you! If you have trouble obtaining a copy, I’ll be happy to lend you mine.