Reading in the New Year
The ethos of the wine culture in California ferments in the memoirs of its participants
No wonder vines are planted here, on the very edge of the world. Wine is needed to stake a human claim, fleetingly, in a place as wild as we are insignificant. — Clare Tooley
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
The London Music Academy describes this observation as, “much quoted, little understood, wrongly attributed, confusingly brilliant.” The wine blog vinography.com allows that this oft-repeated maxim, “accurately captures the conundrum of using words to describe something we experience in entirely non-verbal ways” — a challenge that intrinsically exists with wine, and which can only be met with “the magic trick that lies at the heart of good wine writing.”
What that “magic trick” entails is impossible to say, but you know its consequence when you read it. And I’ve been reading it a lot this week in an extremely addictive, sometimes astonishing anthology of wine essays that Deb gave me for Christmas. On California-From Napa to Nebbiolo…Wine tales from the Golden State, from Académie du Vin Library, is not a brand-new release. It’s a little over a year old and carries a 2021 copyright. But for me it is new— like discovering treasure.
The book was conceived by Steven Spurrier — organizer of the paradigm-shifting Judgement of Paris in 1976, and protagonist (played by Alan Rickman) of the 2008 comedy-drama Bottle Shock — who died March 9, 2021. The book was released in the US on his birthday, October 5th, to honor his legacy.
I’ve been reading this book… no… I’ve honestly been savoring this book, every day now since I got it. It features over 40 short discourses from winemakers, wine writers and otherwise wine experts expounding on, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “the way wine intersects with history, geography, politics and people.”
Vinography.com was even more encompassing, bestowing it, “the who, what, when, why, and how of California wine through the lens of the past, present and future of the Golden State.”
The New York Times had a more reserved, dare I say snobbier take, “Over the decades, California wine has been glorified and vilified, but its importance is indisputable. This book is unlikely to change minds, but it is illuminating.”
“Illuminating”?! Like you shown a flashlight to make it more revealing? How about “blinding so”? Like an entire bank of those tractor-mounted harvest lights that turn night into day in the vineyard.
But I understand how it is difficult to be more specific in reviewing this collection without simply reprinting the table of contents, which is three pages long and divided into nine sections. Even then, that would only reveal the pedigrees of the different authors and not the current of fervor flowing within.
Most of the essays are new, although a few with historical significance were penned decades ago. All of them are genuine, passionate voices, and hence are deeply—almost painfully—inspiring to a new winemaker like myself. I’ll read two or three every evening—with a glass of my own wine—trying to draw them out, make them last, asking them to somehow reflect on what I’m drinking.
I strongly recommend that if you haven’t yet started a wine library do so with this book. And if you already have a creaky shelf or two of favorite tomes, add this to the mix. Available in hardcover at Amazon. Sadly, and inexcusably, not available (yet) in digital form for E-Readers.
Speaking of wine libraries…
I’ve been building mine very organically—no real rhyme or reason. If I find something interesting, be it historical, memoir, how to, where to, narrative, fiction, technical, coffee table, whatever, I’ll grab it, often digitally for my iPad. I’m a newbie at this so I concede that my collection to date is woefully lacking many of the classic books on wine. But I’ll get there.
Until then, in no particular order or ranking, here are some of my favorite wine books that have entertained me, informed me, taught me, emboldened me, lit me up and kept me believing. They may do the same for you.
Cork Dork by Bianca Jagger, 2017, Penguin Books
Wine Folly by Madeline Puckette and Justin Hammack, 2018, Penguin Random
The Napa Trilogy by James Conaway, Napa, 1990, Mariner Books; The Far Side of Eden, 2002, Mariner Books; Napa at Last Light, 2018, Simon & Schuster
The Vineyard at the End of the World — Maverick Winemakers and the Rebirth of Malbec by Ian Mount, 2112, W.W. Norton
Terroir and Other Myths of Winegrowing by Mark Mathews, 2015 University of California Press
Nose by James Conaway, 2013, St Martin’s Press
Wine Girl by Victoria James, 2020 HarperCollins Publishers
You Had Me at Pet-Nat by Rachel Signer, 2021 Hachette Books
Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave, 2015 Simon & Schuster
The Vintner’s Daughter and The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristen Harnisch, 2014 & 2019 Pocket Books
The Wine Maker’s Answer Book by Alison Crowe, 2007, Story Publishing
Flawless, Understanding Faults in Wine by Jamie Goode, 2018 University of California Press
Vino Argentino and Malbec mon amour by Laura Catena, 2010, Chronicle Books and 2021 Catapulta
The Heartbreak Grape — The Search for the Perfect Pinot Noir by Marq de Villiers, 1st Edition 1993, Harper Collins
Wine Reads — A Literary Anthology of Wine Writing edited by Jay McInerney, 2018, Atlantic Monthly Press
Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours by Jancis Robinson, 2012, Ecco
Wine Science—Principles and Applications by Ronald Jackson, 5th Edition 2020, Academic Press
Happy New Year!
It’s going to be a good one, if for no other reason than we will be releasing our inaugural vintage of wine under the Tiny Vineyard Wine Company label. And that will be momentous! Be sure to reserve your share now now at tinyvineyards.com before it’s all spoken for.
But remember; there needs to be cause for wine drinking, for celebration, for well-being. And right now the times seem fraught with anything but. May the world begin to recover this year. May hatred and divisiveness finally give way to love and cooperation. May we have a true reason to tip a glass.
Happy New Year to all of us!