A Vineyard in Tuscany is your standard feel-good story of adversity and perseverance which ultimately results in a happy ending. However, its setting in the beautiful and romantic hills of Tuscany is what makes it special. And the fact that it is a story of a writer’s journey as well is also somewhat unique and probably helped pay the bills.

Máté and his wife Candace, an artist who lovingly refers to him as Chum, lived in a small villa called La Marinaia near Montepulciano with their son and dreamed of having their own vineyard and making their own award-winning wine. In the beginning, it was mostly Máté’s dream. After searching everywhere in the region for months and months and making an ill-fated overture to a less-than neighborly neighbor, they finally found the place they had been looking for, called Il Colombaio, in Montalcino.  “Chum,” Candace whispered, “God built this ruin for you.”

Then came the tough part: paying for it and developing the land around it into a working vineyard. While Máté was always talking about the scarcity of money before and during this project, it was interesting to me to note that they always seemed to have funds for expensive summer sailing trips and other exotic travel adventures.

Much of the book is devoted to chronicling the story of developing the fifteen acres of vines that were put in by hand along with the effort and expense of restoring the ruin into a home and winery. One highlight was the unexpected visit by their new neighbor Angelo Gaja, the famous Italian vintner, who had just purchased the vineyard next to theirs. At their first meeting, Gaja presented them with a gift of what turned out to be a $400 bottle of Sori San Lorenzo wine.

In the end, the Mátés prevail and they produce wines that receive international acclaim. While a few of the side trails Máté takes the reader on seemed distracting to me, it was generally a good read and a great story. Since Italy and Tuscany, in particular, were already on my short list of places to visit, this book did nothing but reinforce my desire to make that trip. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Italian wine, is considering a trip to Italy, or who fantasizes about owning their own vineyard and winery. If this describes you, head on over to Amazon or your book retailer of choice and pick up a copy.

Have you already read A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover’s Dream? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

Cheers!

Wine Book Club: A Vineyard in Tuscany was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

In this book, the Platters chronicle an amazing trip through the African continent, from Algeria to Zimbabwe, where just getting from one wine area to another was an adventure in itself, not to mention the challenges winemakers face in areas where nature says growing grapes is nuts and in Islamic countries where making wine could put a price tag on your head.

While I doubt that any of these countries, save South Africa, will be known for its world-class wines anytime soon, the book weaves a fascinating tale of how doggedly determined winemakers have accepted the challenge of producing wine when all the odds are against them. I found the Platters’ story of locating and then exploring Les Celliers de Meknes in Morocco, a huge and modern winemaking operation located anonymously with no signage or directions so as not to offend the devout Muslims, extremely interesting and almost unbelievable.

The Platters finished their African continent winelands tour, fittingly enough, with South Africa where they had lived and worked for more than twenty years. As the eighth largest wine producing country in the world and with 350 years of grape growing history, South Africa is the flagship for wine on the African continent. Based on what Mom and Dad told me from their travels in South Africa this year, I think the Platters did a good job of telling the South African wine country story through the diary of their six week excursion.

However, as the Platters say in this book, the trip is not complete. There are other winelands in Africa they want to visit, and there are winemakers in this extreme wine country worth keeping an eye on, such as Sam Pfidzayi of Marondera in Zimbabwe for his Cabernet Franc, Faith Rutto’s Cabernet Sauvignon in Kenya, Ramilla Ramguendez’s “new wave red” in Algeria, and Jacques Poulain’s Atlas Vineyard wines from Morocco, just to name a few.

Whether it’s adventure, travel, or wine that excites you, I believe that this book should have a place in your library. You can pick up a copy from Amazon or your book retailer of choice.

Have you already read Africa Uncorked: Travels in Extreme Wine Country? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

For those of you who would like to read along with us in the Wine Book Club, the August selection is A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover’s Dream by Ferenc Mate.

Cheers!

Wine Book Club: Africa Uncorked was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Jamie, Tanya, and Peter had spent the previous summer searching for France’s palest rosé which was the subject of Ivey’s first book, Extremely Pale Rosé. During that trip, they completely fell in love with France and decided that they wanted to move there to open their own rosé-only wine bar. They returned to London to get their affairs in order, save up some money, and the following spring, they sold their house and set off on their adventure.

While this adventure may sound like the stuff dreams are made of, they ran into a lot of roadblocks along the way. They had made arrangements with a bar owner in Aix to set up shop on his terrace for the summer while looking for a more permanent location for La Vie en Rosé. When they arrived on what was to be their first day, they discovered that they were the butt of a practical joke. They spent the rest of the summer bouncing around from temporary location to temporary location holding two week “rosé festivals” while looking for property of their own.

Dr. Debs of Good Wine Under $20 said, “Getting to experience the highs and lows of the process—from Ivey’s halting attempts to communicate with the locals (all of whom know a great deal about wine) to the moment they plunk down money on a piece of property—was like watching friends dive off a very high cliff into formidably deep waters. I appreciated the bravery of what they did, but I have no intention of doing it myself.” I couldn’t agree more and was thinking the exact same thing as I read the book. While I found their stories to be a perfect summer read, I certainly would not want to be in their shoes.

Frank of Drink What You Like, points out that “As the story comes to a close, Jamie reflects on the irony of worrying about the location of La Vie En Rosé throughout the summer. The trio finds success not in a ‘brick and mortar’ location, but in a small stall in the heart of a French market. (This of course is the prelude to Jamie’s next book, Rosé en Marche.)”

While the story has a happy ending, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that they did not ultimately find the perfect permanent location for La Vie en Rosé. I personally would not enjoy the gypsy lifestyle of being in a different location each day of the week, moving from market to market. Although, different strokes for different folks is what makes the world go round, and what they did find seems perfect for them.

Dr. Debs found the book to be “full of the sights and sounds of the southern French countryside. From local festivals celebrating garlic to visits with local vignerons, Ivey is adept at bringing a scene to life in all its variety and with a fair bit of humor.” She also notes, however, that “Ivey is British, and this means that his sense of humor is decidedly British as well. His tone may strike some readers as offbeat and ironic.”

If you are looking for a fun summer read or have ambitions of your own to give up your current life and set out on an adventure, then head on over to Amazon or your book retailer of choice and pick up a copy. As Frank said, “I have the deepest respect for those who pursue their dreams with singular focus and stay committed despite challenges. Also because I too harbor similar ‘romantic’ dreams of leaving the grind here to pursue similar endeavors abroad.”

Have you already read La Vie en Rosé: A Very French Adventure Continues? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

Many thanks to my fellow Wine Bookaneers, Dr. Debs and Frank, for participating again this month. We would love to have more of you join us. So for anyone considering reading along, the next two selections in the Wine Book Club are:
July: Africa Uncorked: Travels in Extreme Wine Territory by John and Erica Platter
August: A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover’s Dream by Ferenc Mate

Cheers!

Wine Book Club Roundup: La Vie en Rosé was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Dr. Debs of Good Wine Under $20, who founded our monthly Wine Book Club designed to bring together bloggers and wine lovers for book reviews and discussions, selected La Vie en Rosé: A Very French Adventure Continues by Jamie Ivey (St. Martin’s Press, $24.95; Amazon.com, $16.47) as the book for June. She will be enjoying a summer vacation when the reviews are due so she has asked me to host this month. I graciously accepted and hope that you will read along with us so I have lots to report in the roundup.

In La Vie en Rosé, Ivey shares his adventures when he and his wife moved to the south of France to open a rosé-only wine bar in Provence. It is a sequel to his first book, Extremely Pale Rosé. Don’t hold back on participating just because you haven’t read his first book. I haven’t either, but I’m still excited to read about what they went through trying to pick the perfect location for their rosé-only wine bar and how they handled the naysayers.

So head on over to Amazon or your book retailer of choice to pick up a copy of La Vie en Rosé, pour yourself a glass of rosé wine, and start reading. When you’ve finished, post a review on your blog (if you have one) or leave your review in the comments below before Wednesday, June 24th at 5pm. Then send me a link to your post by leaving a comment below or via email (kori at winepeeps dot com) so that I can include you in the roundup of posts on June 25th.

Happy reading!

Join us for this month’s Wine Book Club was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:39 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to a number of wine regions around the world in the United States, Canada, France, Australia, and New Zealand. The place that is next, I hope, on my list of wine country vacations is Italy. I have enjoyed the wines of Italy for some time and became truly fascinated with the country, particularly Piedmont, after reading Vino Italiano for the very first Wine Book Club last year. Therefore, when Sergio Esposito’s book was released last year, I quickly snatched up a copy.

Sergio Esposito moved with his family from Italy to the United States when he was 6 years old. Even though he left Italy at a very young age, the culture remained a big part of his life because his parents made a point to raise their children with a love and respect for family, food, and wine.

“Italian wine, like Italian food, is simultaneously no big deal and the biggest deal possible.”

In Sergio’s family, wine was always served with meals and even the children were given sips. Wine became his connection to Italy, and he longed to work in the wine business someday. He saved the money he earned working in a restaurant and spent several summers backpacking through Europe. When he left home, he moved to New York City and worked several jobs in the wine industry before founding Italian Wine Merchants which has become the leading Italian wine source in the United States. His work took him on frequent trips to his homeland.

Passion on the Vine is a well-written memoir that makes you feel as if you are sitting at the table with the Esposito family, eating a scrumptious meal prepared with local ingredients and enjoying local wine. And by the way, the meal could last up to four or six hours.

The bulk of the book recounts stories from a trip he took to Italy for the summer with his wife, son, daughter, and parents. He had to spend time there for work but he took his family along so they could visit their homeland. The people and the places that he so vividly describes could just as easily be characters in a novel, but alas, it is even more intriguing to know that these are real people and these things actually happened. One of the most fascinating stories is the last one, a story about Prince Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, Prince of Verona. The Prince was a genius winemaker but also a bit outrageous. Near the end of his life, he destroyed his vineyards because he could not bear the thought of someone else not treating them properly.

Another thread that weaves its way throughout the book is the sense of duty to make the world a better place for our children and to pass a legacy on to them.

“The most important thing for a wine producer to leave behind is not a beautiful cellar, or the latest machine or wads of money. It is a vineyard. A vineyard is not about wealth and profit and immediacy. A vineyard is your heritage.”

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Italian wine, is considering a trip to Italy, or who just wants an interesting summer read. If this describes you, head on over to Amazon or your book retailer of choice and pick up a copy.

Have you already read Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

Cheers!

Wine Book Club: Passion on the Vine was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 27 May 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Fortunately, I have a habit of highlighting, dog-earing pages, and making notes in the margins as I read a book that makes it easy for me to review and recall what I liked and didn’t like. The first thing I noticed is that I didn’t have as many pages dog-eared in this book as I normally do.

While I found this book to be a good overview of the science of making wine, it is not the easiest read. If you are in the wine business or studying for a wine certification, this book compiles some very esoteric arguments on various topics in an organized way. It is certainly nice to find all of these topics in one book rather than having to Google all over the internet. However, this book is way too complex for beginners or people who don’t really care about some of the factors that affect the taste and quality of wine; they just want to drink good wine.

Some of the topics that caught my attention and might be of interest to you:

• The question of terroir.

“The French feel they have ownership of terroir, but in good winemaking the idea is universal.” –Charlie Melton, Barossa wine-grower

• Climate change implications for wine.

“It appears that the currently cool-climate regions would benefit the most. If the climate warms as the models predict, then these regions will be better able to ripen the fruit and may even be able to consider other varieties that could not ripen there today.” –Dr. Gregory Jones

• Is alcohol reduction a sin?

“Today the central debate about reverse osmosis and other high-tech wine-production innovations is not about whether they work; it is about whether winemakers will go to hell if they use them.” –Clark Smith

“There are some great old-vine vineyards in the New World that were planted in areas that are perhaps too warm for the grapes to arrive at optimal flavor/alcohol balance. One makes a better wine by picking the grapes riper and taking a little alcohol out of them than by picking them earlier.” –Randall Grahm, California winemaker

• The effects of sulphur dioxide on wine consumers.

“ …many foodstuffs contain higher levels of sulphites than wine, with the worst offenders being dried fruits, which typically contain 1,000 ppm—about ten times the level in wine.”

• Which wine bottle closure is best?

“There is, as yet, no perfect closure. Instead winemakers have to choose the closure that best suits their objectives. The data would seem to suggest that synthetic corks are the least effective closure….”

Author Jamie Goode, a London-based wine writer, obviously knows his stuff, but I believe that this book probably has a fairly limited audience. However, if you’d like to learn more about some of the topics I’ve mentioned, grab a copy today as this book can be a good resource.

Have you already read The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

For those of you who would like to read along with us in the Wine Book Club, the May selection is Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy by Sergio Esposito.

Cheers!

Wine Book Club: The Science of Wine was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Today the Kermit Lynch catalog is the stuff of legends, and the Kermit Lynch Importer imprint on a bottle commands quite a premium, but that was not the case when this book was written. Today, of course, you can add author and winemaker to his credits. In the 1980’s when he wrote this book, Lynch was a self-described “recently defected hippie.”

As I refreshed my memory on this book, several things stood out in my mind:

1. Kermit Lynch was the first importer to routinely use “reefers,” or refrigerated containers, to ship wines across the ocean. How wine had survived those month-long voyages over the years without “reefers” is truly amazing.
2. Kermit Lynch is a big proponent of unfiltered wines.
3. Kermit Lynch is a critic of blind tastings except with food. As our regular readers know, we at Wine Peeps are big proponents of blind tasting for reasons we have discussed at length, and the majority of our tastings are with food, either at our monthly wine tasting dinners or our smaller private tastings during the week.

My favorite quote from the book which garnered a dog-eared page and five stars:

“One cannot do justice to a great bottle alone. Someone with whom to ooh and aah is indispensable, someone with whom to share the intellectual and aesthetic stimulation that a great bottle inspires.”

Adventures on the Wine Route is arranged by region as Lynch and his party traveled from Loire to Bordeaux  to the south of France and then up through Southern and Northern Rhone, then to Burgundy and finally to Chablis. While the chateau, winemaker, and wine stories were great, I especially enjoyed the description of the regions, the sights, the lodgings, and the restaurants along the way.

Lynch is witty, opinionated, and extremely bright. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I believe you will, too, especially if you ever plan to visit the wine regions of France. So grab a copy and start planning your trip.

Have you already read Adventures on the Wine Route? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

For those of you who would like to read along with us in the Wine Book Club, the next two selections are:
April: The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass by Jamie Goode
May: Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy by Sergio Esposito

Cheers!

Wine Book Club: Adventures on the Wine Route was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Champagne covers some of the same information from World War II as Wine and War, but it also covers the history of the Champagne region going all the way back to the days of Attila the Hun. It’s a bloody history, but it is a great story of perseverance through not only wars but also through harsh weather, economic calamity, and pestilence. This is not a champagne tasting or champagne reviews book but a story of survival and ultimate prosperity.

“The greatest irony of all, however, is that Champagne, site of some of mankind’s bitterest battles, should be the birthplace of a wine the entire world equates with good times and friendship.”

A few of the more interesting stories in the book, aside from war after war after war, are the real story of the famous monk Dom Perignon (despite what many people think, he did not invent champagne), the breakthroughs in the production of “bubbly,” and the story of how the great caves, or crayeres, of Champagne were used as underground villages during the Great War.

Here are a few quotes from the book that I found particularly interesting. Some of these just might whet your appetite for more.

“No other wine, no other drink, had ever created, by its special qualities, a whole mood that almost amounted to a way of life.” –Hugh Johnson on champagne

“In victory you deserve it [champagne], in defeat you need it.” –Napoleon

“Possessing our beautiful vineyards would crown all their achievements. Throughout the centuries, through big invasions and smaller incursions, it has always been our wine that attracted the Germanic hordes. They know, perhaps even better than we do, what riches are at stake and what a civilizing force champagne represents. Our celebrated wine goes to every point of the planet with the joy, gaiety, and elegance for which we French are known.” –Writer Charles Moreau-Berillon when WWI began

“Of all the supplies sent to our army during the war, wine was surely the most highly anticipated and appreciated by soldiers.” –Marshal Philippe Petain, former commander-in-chief of the French army

If you like champagne and enjoy history, you’ll love this book. It’s available for the bargain price of $5.50 at Amazon right now.

When we visited France in 2003, we spent the majority of our time in Bordeaux and did not make it to Champagne. After reading Champagne, the Kladstrups have inspired me to put it on my list of wine destinations I must visit.

Have you already read Champagne? If so, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

For those of you who would like to read along with us in the Wine Book Club, the next two selections are:
March: Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France by Kermit Lynch
April: The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass by Jamie Goode

Cheers!

Wine Book Club: Champagne was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Saintsbury’s life (1845-1933) was divided between teaching and journalism; all told, he worked as a journalist, reviewer, critic, editor, and Professor of Literature at the University of Edinburgh. The entries in Saintsbury’s cellar book cover a period of thirty-one years from 1884 to 1915.

“There is no money, among that which I have spent since I began to earn my living, of the expenditure of which I am less ashamed, or which gave me better value in return, than the price of the liquids chronicled in this booklet. When they were good they pleased my senses, cheered my spirits, improved my moral and intellectual powers, besides enabling me to confer the same benefits on other people.” –George Saintsbury

While I found it to be a very interesting book—ok, it’s really a set of notes—it is a tough read. I’ve had to keep a dictionary at my side and also be ready to Google regularly to understand many of the terms he uses. Originally published in 1920 and now edited and annotated by Thomas Pinney in 2008, Notes on a Cellar-Book is not just a book on wine but covers beer and spirits as well.

In order to really enjoy this book, I believe that you need to already know a lot about wine as well as be an academic or history buff. If you fit into those categories, grab a copy today.

One thing is clear to me after reading this book; people back then longed “for the good old days” in wine just like many people say they do today. Not much has changed in over 100 years in that respect. Personally, I believe the good old days are now, but I enjoyed reading Saintsbury’s notes about the wines of that era nonetheless.

Most of the wines Saintsbury talks about in his Notes are not the kinds of wines the typical wine consumer will ever drink today. However, his examples give me hope that in my own wine searches, some of the great wines I’m finding from newer producers today will turn out to be the next Mouton Rothschild, which he found at a ridiculously low price before it established its reputation.

While Saintsbury was a prolific writer, this was his only book devoted to wine. In this book, he is tactful, but certainly not bashful, about giving his opinion about wines he tasted. For example, he wouldn’t say that a certain wine was bad; he’d just say he didn’t like it or he never bought it himself.

I was amazed by how much Saintsbury read, how much he wrote, and how much he ate and drank himself. Reading his eight-course dinner menus that were accompanied by eight wines gave me both a stomach ache and a headache. And to think that in all of his tasting, he says he never had an American wine.

In sum, I enjoyed the book, but I wonder if it fits the reading palate of most of our readers. If you’ve already read Notes on a Cellar-Book, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

For those of you who would like to read along with us in the Wine Book Club, the next three selections are:
February: Champagne: How the World’s Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times by Don Kladstrup
March: Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France by Kermit Lynch
April: The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass by Jamie Goode

Wine Book Club: Notes on a Cellar-Book was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.

Tyler Colman, aka Dr. Vino, is a fellow wine blogger and teaches wine classes at NYU and the University of Chicago. His wine writing has also appeared in print publications such as Food & Wine, Wine & Spirits, and the New York Times. Wine Politics grew out of Mr. Colman’s PhD dissertation in the political science department at Northwestern University. He set out to examine the political factors that influence how a wine is made, how much it costs, how it is labeled, what wines we can actually buy, and so forth. A lot of information is packed into this relatively short 148-page read.

While he presents a lot of interesting information, the chapter that I found the most compelling was Chapter 4, Baptists and Bootleggers, particularly the section on distributor politics. As a citizen of the United States of America, home of the free-enterprise system, it is hard to believe that in 2008 there still remain numerous archaic laws regarding the sale and distribution of alcohol. I thought this line summed up how ridiculous these laws can be:

“Because of the odd patchwork of state laws, it is easier for a producer to ship a case of wine from Bordeaux to Berlin than from Napa to New Jersey.”

Let’s think about that: it is easier to ship wine from France to Germany than it is to ship it within the United States of America.

If you really want to know why you can’t buy a bottle of wine you fell in love with on a recent trip to California and have it shipped to your home, then you should definitely pick up a copy of Wine Politics to find out. And then head over to Free the Grapes to join the grassroots effort to remove these restrictions. However, if you’re simply looking for basic wine information or for a recommendation on what bottle of wine to drink tonight, then this book is probably not for you.

If you’ve already read Wine Politics, please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of it.

Wine Book Club, Fifth Edition: Wine Politics was originally posted on Wine Peeps on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:00 UTC. Wine Peeps - Your link to great QPR wines from Washington State and beyond.