Wine honcho gives Italian varieties push

From a poor childhood in Naples, to washing pots in a Manhattan restaurant, to the center of the Italian wine scene, Sergio Esposito has had a great rise.

And the wine importer is only in his 30s.

The owner of Italian Wine Merchants and partner of Italian cultural ambassadors Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich published a book last year, “Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family, in the Heart of Italy.” (Broadway).

In what is becoming an increasingly common genre — the wine memoir — Mr. Esposito’s book begins with his early life in the housing projects of Naples. His family, marked for an ancestor’s support of Mussolini, was shut out of opportunity. The family didn’t have much money, but never wanted for food. Mr. Esposito, with help from a sharp ghost writer, writes so evocatively about Italian food — whether his mother’s peasant cuisine or the work of a four-star chef — that the words make you hungrier than cookbook glossies.

His family emigrated to the United States when he was young to bland and chilly Upstate New York. A return visit to Italy as a teen ignited newfound respect for his Italian heritage and the nation’s food and wine.

The first half of his book pokes fun unflinchingly at his idiosyncratic family in passages that will resonate with anyone with an off-beat uncle, bickering parents, or loud family gatherings. Later, he brings to life peculiar Italians in the wine industry: A guy making wine in clay amphorae. A womanizing Slovinian who grows vines under the New Age yet age-old organic philosophy of biodynamics and makes a convincing case for it. Through it all, Mr. Esposito weaves detail about grape growing and winemaking that will enrich casual to experienced wine drinkers.

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