After nearly twenty years at the helm of a small winery, Brunello expert Laura Gray here brings together a dazzling range of eclectic knowledge about both city and wine, with an analytic eye for detail and an irreverent attitude to life.

Is The Magpie's Guide to Montalcino a guide-book? Is it a lexicon? A glossary? A wine compendium? It is all of these and more. The format is A-Z but the selection criteria are entirely personal. Expect everything from etymology to cultural observation, historical curiosity to contemporary quirk.

Laura's ability to convey huge amounts of information with levity and wit underpins a deep understanding of the wine, the culture and the quotidian rewards of life in the extraordinary and singular city of Montalcino.