Kerin O’Keefe holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and also studied English and American literature for a year at the University of East Anglia. O'Keefe has a keen interest in fine Italian wine made from autochthonous grape varieties. 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 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. She also won the Premio Consorzio Brunello di Montalcino in 2008 for her cover article "Brunello de-con-structed" in the Oct-Nov 2007 issue of The Wine News. Brunello di Montalcino - Understanding and Appreciating One of Italy's Greatest Wines,, gave Montalcino and its wines the in-depth treatment they deserved. Her latest book, Barolo and Barbaresco - The King and Queen of Italian Wine,, filled a gap in the wine literature by helping consumers understand the differences among the various sub-zones of Barolo and Barbaresco.
Contentions
In The Times Literary SupplementTim 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 in The New York Times 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 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.
