I need to tell you right up front that you have to be somewhat of a different sort of wine geek to even understand what author Randall Grahm is saying most of the time. But if you like wine and literature and enjoy parodies, this is your book. By the way, Been Doon So Long: […]

When I was studying for my Certified Specialist of Wine exam, I found The Art and Science of Wine to be a valuable resource. World famous UK wine writer Hugh Johnson and Australian winemaker/writer/wine critic James Halliday have done a great job of exploring and explaining how both art and science are involved in the […]

Pacific Rim Winery, located in West Richland, Washington, is almost exclusively a Riesling producer. The first Pacific Rim Riesling was produced in 1992 as a brand within Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz, California, and used grapes from California, Washington, and Germany. In 2007, owner Randall Grahm decided to downsize Bonny Doon and spun off […]

A classic “who-dun-it” with an interesting twist at the end, Peter Mayle’s The Vintage Caper is a book you should read, especially if you like to sip a glass of wine as you read crime fiction. This is the first of his twelve books that I’ve read, but I now wish I had read some […]

Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining is billed as a cookbook, but it’s much more than that. It’s also a story about the uniqueness of the Pacific Northwest, its people, its places, its chefs, and its winemakers. Braiden Rex-Johnson (that’s a name you can’t forget) takes you on quite a tour through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and […]

When I first saw this book, When the Rivers Ran Red: An Amazing Story of Courage and Triumph in America’s Wine Country, on the shelf of my local Barnes and Noble, I knew I had to buy it, not for the great title, but for the last name of the author, Vivienne Sosnowski. When you […]

As a prolific reader, I’m regularly prowling the aisles at local bookstores, and especially the wine books section. The title of this book, Educating Peter: How Anybody Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert, is what first caught my attention. Then, when I scanned the Introduction, I knew this was a book that I wanted […]

The wine trails guy, Steve Roberts, has done it again, completing his trifecta of Northwest wine guides with this book, WineTrails of Idaho. Earlier this year when I was visiting with Steve about his WineTrails of Oregon book, I asked him what was next and he mentioned this book, so I wasn’t surprised when I […]

My first impression of Drink This: Wine Made Simple by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl was that I wish I had written it myself. It has a tremendous amount of information for the wine novice presented in an easily understood manner. However, when I got to her list of wine varietals, each of which she devotes a […]

I’ll get right to the bottom line: One Vintage: A Year in the Vineyard by Chris Jones is a good, short read, and a very attractive book. I thought its $30 price tag was a little high in this market, but that’s for you to decide. For over ten years, Chris Jones and her husband […]