Kerin O'Keefe is a wine critic specialized in Italian wine and author of four books. She reviews wines and writes articles on the growing areas, wines and producers for kerinokeefe.com. O'Keefe was Italian Editor for

Wine Enthusiast ''Wine Enthusiast'' magazine is an American wine magazine published by Wine Enthusiast Companies in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, Wine Enthusiast Companies engages in the wine accessories, storage, information, educat ...

from May 2013 until June 2022. From 2002 to 2013 she wrote regularly on Italian wine for Decanter and from 2004 for The World of Fine Wine. She was also Contributing Editor for ''The Wine News'' from 2003 to 2009.

Career

Kerin O’Keefe holds a degree in English literature from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

and also studied English and American literature for a year at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution ...

. O'Keefe has a keen interest in fine Italian wine made from autochthonous

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...

. She has been acknowledged to be "one of the great wine commentators on Italy" and "a critic in the best sense of the word, not shy with her opinions, which she offers without polemics or bluster." She won the Premio Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino in 2008 for her cover article "Brunello de-con-struct-ed" in the Oct-Nov 2007 issue of ''The Wine News''. She was named Honorary Knight by the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei Vini di Alba on April 7, 2017.

Books

Her first book was published in Italian by Luigi Veronelli in 2004: ''Franco Biondi Santi. Il gentleman del Brunello''. She authored the English edition of the book in 2005, ''Franco Biondi Santi. The Gentleman of Brunello'', a recipient of a Gourmand Wine Books Award. ''Brunello di Montalcino - Understanding and Appreciating One of Italy's Greatest Wines'', (

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 2012), gave Montalcino and its wines the in-depth treatment they deserved. Her latest book, ''Barolo and Barbaresco - The King and Queen of Italian Wine'', (

, 2014), filled a gap in the wine literature by helping consumers understand the differences among the various sub-zones of Barolo and

Barbaresco Barbaresco is an Italian wine made with the Nebbiolo grape. Barbaresco is produced in the Piedmont region in an area of the Langhe immediately to the east of Alba and specifically in the ''comune''s of Barbaresco, Treiso and Neive plus that ...

Contentions

In ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'' Tim Crane put her in the Clive Coates/ Michael Broadbent camp of wine critics, rather than in the Robert Parker camp of "loud and fruity descriptions". Her article "Rebels without a cause? The demise of Super-Tuscans" was discussed by

Eric Asimov Eric Asimov (born July 17, 1957) is an American wine critic and food critic for ''The New York Times''. Early life Asimov was born in Bethpage, New York, the son of Stanley Asimov, former vice-president for editorial administration at ''Newsd ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and spurred a lively debate on the merits of Super-Tuscans. The Brunellopoli scandal was not a surprise for O'Keefe, as she had been questioning Brunellos which were suspiciously dark and without the typical aromas of pure

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape i ...

wines for years. O'Keefe wrote in 2003 that many of 1997 Brunellos she had tasted: "were so jammy it was hard to believe they were Brunello", in 2006 that: "illicit blending with other grapes, to make luminous ruby-garnet color unnaturally darker, is staunchly denied on all official fronts" and in 2007 that: "Doubts can only remain in the face of some of the darker, impenetrable Brunellos sometimes seen". O'Keefe opposes the view held by many about the so-called American Palate, or the preference for highly oaked, sweet and powerful wines. She maintains it is a crass stereotype to believe that an entire nation has a uniform taste with respect to wine. She argued instead that US wine drinkers have shown a growing appetite for more balanced and drinkable wines. O'Keefe has also been critical of the tendency of some Italian wine producers to "equate what they call un vino importante with overwhelming sensations of French oak."

Bibliography

* ''Franco Biondi Santi. Il gentleman del Brunello'', Veronelli Editore, 2004. * ''Franco Biondi Santi. The gentleman of Brunello'', Veronelli Editore, 2005. * ''Brunello di Montalcino. Understanding and Appreciating One of Italy's Greatest Wines'', University of California Press, 2012. * ''Barolo and Barbaresco. The King and Queen of Italian Wine'', University of California Press, 2014.

References

External links

kerinokeefe.com Kerin O'Keefe website

Kerin O'Keefe on ''Youtube''

Kerin O'Keefe on ''Instagram''

Kerin O'Keefe on ''Facebook''

Kerin O'Keefe on ''Twitter''
{{DEFAULTSORT:OKeefe, Kerin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Wine critics Wine writers University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Alumni of the University of East Anglia Writers from Boston