The moment he was handed a glass of Cockburn 1908 vintage port by his grandfather at 13 years old, Steven Spurrier knew he would make wine his career. He travelled Europe in his red sports car (fitted with a compact wine fridge in the boot), working the vintage in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne, before his first extraordinary move was to set up shop and sell wine to the French. As an Englishman in the heart of Paris, this seemed a remarkably bold (if not foolish) project, but the plan worked. Steven's adventures in wine did not stop there. In 1976, he went on to mastermind the 'Judgement of Paris', the France v California blind tasting that changed the wine world forever. This memoir looks back on Steven's life charting the incidents, adventures, ideas and discoveries that formed his wine journey. With tributes from Hugh Johnson, Miguel Torres, Oz Clarke, Jancis Robinson MW, Warren Winiarski and many more...

Wine. The word calls to mind vineyards descending stark Spanish hills, vats lining Tuscan villages, fashionable singles crowding California tasting rooms. But anyone who hikes or bikes back roads in the Upper Midwest sees grapevines twining over fence posts and twisting up trees. Smooth, delicious wines are made from those grapes, and from the wild berries and cultivated fruits grown in the region. Wineries of Wisconsin and Minnesota is a user-friendly guide to fifty-five wineries, ranging from small family-farm operations to the largest, best-known wine producers. The book's centerpiece is a series of thirteen "wine trails" that paints a picture of each winery's setting and unique flavor and includes detailed information and maps for visiting the wineries. Author and wine expert Patricia Monaghan explores the colourful history of Wisconsin and Minnesota wines, including the geology and climate of the region: the history of Upper Midwest grape growing; the heritage of country wines, and the major wine regions in the area. Delightful sidebars feature tidbits of wine information, from recommended pairings of food and wine to unusual local wine lore.

Winemaking is never easy - but in the case of Chateau Musar, the most famous wine to come out of Lebanon, there have been times when it has been almost impossibly difficult. Serge Hochar would say 'in Lebanon, difficulties are our habit. We are addicted to difficulties!' and he famously continued to make his wines regardless of the bombing and shelling attacks going on around him. This is his story, and the story of Gaston, Marc, Ralph and Tarek, the new generation that follows him, carrying on the tradition of making wines of charisma and character with minimal interference. It is a tale of our times; winemaking at its most instinctive and natural, inspired by Mother Nature, and resonating powerfully with the spirit of survival that has sustained the Hochars' troubled homeland, Lebanon. With contributions from Kevin Gould, Elizabeth Gilbert, Catherine Miles, Edward Ragg MW, Fongyee Walker MW, Jancis Robinson MW, Michael Broadbent, Steven Spurrier, Andrew Jefford, Bartholomew Broadbent and Susan Keevil, Chateau Musar, The Story of a Wine Icon is the perfect read for those who want to learn more about this incredible wine and delve into the multi-millennia-tradition of Lebanese wine.

This book invites readers to discover an exceptional wine grown in the French region of Bordeaux. Chateau Cantemerle, which has been a vineyard since the Middle Ages, has a unique history full of mystery and intrigue. To tell its story, Valerie Labadie has created an original narrative, combining her own insights with the imagined memory of Baroness de Villeneuve, a 19th-century ancestor who signed the important Bordeaux Wine Official Classification documents in 1855. With 150 stunning, atmospheric photographs, Labadie takes readers on a journey around the vineyard, revealing a mansion that looks like Sleeping Beauty's castle, mysterious shadowy cellars, and a romantic 200-acre park in which wine-lovers can be lost for hours. Including a detailed history of Cantemerle's wines, this beautiful book will seduce wine lovers as they drift through its pages, ideally with a glass of Bordeaux in hand.

"Pairing Wine with Asian Food" is a useful guide exploring the principles behind matching Asian food with the right wine. Oenologist Edwin Soon explores problem ingredients in the Asian kitchen and details wine and food combinations to avoid as well as "marriages made in heaven." The major cuisines of Asia are covered, highlighting the most common dishes such as dim sum, seafood, curries and Asian street foods, as well as featuring restaurant safe bets. From Chinese banquets to Thai street food, this straightforward guide will ensure that readers will pick the right wine next time they dine Asian.

"On Champagne is the wine book that every lover of the world's most famous bubbles has been waiting for - whether they realised it or not." - Club O Enologique "...if you love champagne, this is another must-buy. And apologies for the terrible pun, but it is genuinely true - this book fizzes with wonderful stuff." - Jancis Robinson Champagne is never a simple glass of fizz... As soon as the cork flies, the first sip reveals a wine of fascinating complexity. For even the most modest non-vintage cuvee, a bevy of blending decisions, multi layers of history and the incalculable climate of this northern corner of France all come into play. In On Champagne the thoughts, opinions and conclusions of the world's finest champagne writers gather to reveal this wine's action-packed trajectory from the myth of its accidental discovery - not in France, we find, but in the cider cellars of England - to the development of a high-tech champagne fit for space travel. It's a journey that starts and ends with capturing that sparkle in a bottle and along the way beguiles us with the nuances of its chalky terrain, the determination of rebels from Ambonnay to Avize, and the mystery of a champagne cellar under the sea. We meet the pioneers who created the great champagnes of the past and the personalities who are 'greening' this landscape, nurturing it through climate change to shape the exquisite champagnes of the future.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of this good book must be in want of a drink. Winner of the Gourmand Award in the Gin category (US). In six enduring novels, Jane Austen captured the fancies and foibles of Regency England, and every delightful page of this book celebrates the picnics, luncheons, dinner parties, and glamorous balls of Austen's world. At these social engagements, gossip reigned, love flourished, and drinks flowed. Discover an exotic world of cobblers, crustas, flips, punches, shrubs, slings, sours, and toddies, with recipes that evoke the past but suit today's tastes. Raise your glass to Sense and Sensibility with a Brandon Old-Fashioned, Elinorange Blossom, Hot Barton Rum, or Just a Dashwood. Toast Pride and Prejudice with a Cousin Collins, Fizzy Miss Lizzie, Gin & Bennet, or Salt & Pemberley. Brimming with enlightening quotes from the novels and Austen's letters, beautiful photographs, and period design, this intoxicating volume is a must-have for any devoted Janeite.

Save water: Drink Prosecco

Who doesn't love a chilled glass of Prosecco? Champagne's younger, more affordable Italian cousin is a light, dry sparkling wine, perfect for every occasion. From a summer tipple to a tasty cocktail, dinner accompaniment or festive fizz, you just can't beat it. And as global
sales would indicate, Prosecco is the new black.

Bubbling with Prosecco-infused wit and wisdom, and mixed with recipes for some of Italy's most iconic Prosecco cocktails - the Spritz, Rossini, Mimosa - The Little Book of Prosecco is a sparkling celebration of one of the world's best-loved wines that will have you
reaching for a bottle and popping that cork in no time.

Prosecco has only 90 calories per glass - that's less than a banana!

In Clean Cocktails, holistic health coaches Beth Ritter Nydick and Tara Roscioli bring a clean-living mindset to craft mixology. Their recipes use nothing but neutral, low-calorie spirits; fresh juices loaded with vitamins; gentle sweeteners like honey and maple syrup; and anti-inflammatory spices like cinnamon, cayenne and turmeric-the perfect alternative to drinks that are typically loaded with refined sugars, artificial flavours and dyes. Much more than a compendium of cocktails, this book provides recipes for "clean" syrups and bitters so readers can easily build their own delicious drinks. Nydick and Roscioli also highlight ingredients with health benefits, such as ginger (better digestion), cilantro (good for detox) and even vodka (metabolism booster, thanks very much).

The world of wine is more welcoming than ever in this short but comprehensive guide! Calling all wine newbies and wine nerds: This illustrated guide is refreshing as a rose and flavourful as a merlot. As Madelyne Meyer would be the first to tell you, you don't need a book to enjoy wine . . . but knowing more about your favourite glassful can be a pleasure all its own. In Welcome to Wine, Meyer pairs her expert knowledge with 200 witty, whimsical illustrations that make all the essentials crystal clear - so you can get to the good part sooner! Food pairings and the art of wine tasting Serving temperature (without getting hung up on precision!) Key wine regions and exactly how wine is made From choosing wine for a date night to training your nose to pick up "notes," this is the friendliest guide to wine.

In this new small-format edition of Tristan Stephenson's original best-selling book, he explains the origins of the cocktail and showcases classic drinks alongside his own ingenious reinventions. A true master of his craft, in this book bartender, restaurateur, spirit consultant, brand owner and drinks author Tristan explores and experiments with the art of mixing the perfect cocktail, explaining the fascinating modern turns mixology has taken. Showcasing a selection of classic cocktails, he explains their intriguing origins, introducing the colourful historical characters who inspired or created them. Moving on, he reinvents each drink from his laboratory, adding contemporary twists to breathe fresh life into these vintage classics. Stay true to the originals with a Sazerac or a Rob Roy, or experiment with some of his modern variations to create a Green Fairy Sazerac topped with an absinthe 'air' or an Insta-age Rob Roy with the 'age' on the side. Also included is a reference section detailing all the techniques you will need, making this an essential anthology for the cocktail enthusiast.

The original India Pale Ale was pure gold in a glass; a semi-mythical beer specially invented, in the 19th century, to travel halfway around the world, through storms and tropical sunshine, and arrive in perfect condition for a long, cold drink on an Indian verandah. But although you can still buy beers with 'IPA' on the label they are, to be frank, a pale imitation of the original. For the first time in 140 years, a keg of Burton IPA has been brewed with the original recipe for a voyage to India by canal and tall ship, around the Cape of Good Hope; and the man carrying it is the award-winning Pete Brown, Britain's best beer write. Brazilian pirates and Iranian customs officials lie ahead, but will he even make it that far, have fallen in the canal just a few miles out of Burton? And if Pete does make it to the other side of the world with 'Barry' the barrel, one question remains: what will the real IPA taste like? Weaving first-class travel writing with assured comedy, Hops and Glory is both a rollicking, raucous history of the Raj and a wonderfully entertaining, groundbreaking experiment to recreate the finest beer ever produced.

What's the best companion to a round of drinks with friends? A round of bad-ass drinking game fun, of course. Kit includes an 8-page book, a shot glass, a set of standard dice, "dirty" dice, and a deck of 48 cards, each containing one drinking game from the most innocent to the rousing and risque, such as "Tip the Bartender," "Chug-A-Lug," and "Beer-amid." This is sure to add excitement to an otherwise run-of-the-mill bar night.

Grape wine has been produced for at least 4,000 years, having been aged, stored and transported in every conceivable type of vessel. Its seductiveness has been enhanced by this packaging: primarily three strikingly different containers - amphorae, wooden barrels and glass bottles. Henry H. Work brings extensive wine experience as a cooper, working with wine barrels and living in California's Napa Valley to provide a richly detailed and vivid account of wine containers through the ages. This book delves into the history, evolution, and present use of containers, vessels, and stoppers; from animal skin sacks to barrels, from glass bottles to upstart packaging such as wine casks, and even aluminium cans. It considers the advantages and weaknesses of their construction, designs and labels, methods of shipment and storage, as well as their impact on marketing wine to customers. This is an enlightening and innovative read which draws on the most current archaeological research, scientific data and wine business trends. It is richly peppered throughout with the author's own visits to many of the locations explored in the book, bringing history to life. This book will appeal to individuals within the wine industry, undergraduates in the fields of history, archaeology, food and hospitality, as well as all people interested in wine.

A full-color, lushly illustrated graphic novel that recounts the many-layered past and present of beer through dynamic pairings of pictures and meticulously researched insight into the history of the world's favorite brew.
Starting from about 7,000 BC, "The Comic Book Story of Beer "traces beer's influence through world history, encapsulating early man's experiments with fermentation, the rise and fall of Ancient Rome, the (often beer-related) factors that led Europe out of the Dark Ages, the Age of Exploration, the spread of capitalism, the Reformation, and on up to the contemporary explosion of craft brewing. No book has ever told the story of beer in a graphic format as a liberating or emancipating force that improved the life of everyday people. Visually riffing on abstract subjects like pasteurization, "original gravity," and "lagering," artist Aaron McConnell has a flair for cinematic action and demonstrates versatility in depicting characters and episodes from beer's rich history. Hand-drawn in a classic, accessible style, "The Comic Book Story of Beer" makes a great gift, and will appeal to the most avid comic book geek and those who live for beer.

"Rich in history and admirable scholarship. . . . It's a fine grande champagne of a book, to be savored over and over."
-Patricia Wells, author of The Provence Cookbook
Called the "brandy of the gods" by Victor Hugo, Cognac is a universal symbol of refinement and quality. In the first comprehensive history of this celebrated drink, Kyle Jarrard charts Cognac's birth in the 1500s and its transformation into the world's most coveted brandy. Along the way, he reveals how Cognac distillers weathered vineyard die-offs, the German occupation, and other challenges over the years-and offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Hennessy, Remy-Martin, Courvoisier, Martell, and other legendary brands.
For any Cognac lover, this fascinating book will make the perfect gift.
Kyle Jarrard (Paris, France) is a senior editor at the International Herald Tribune and author of the highly acclaimed novels Over There and Rolling the Bones.

Learn what you need to know about wine-in a single evening
Though more and more Americans enjoy wine each year, many still feel intimidated by the subject. The image of the wine snob - swirling glass in hand, taking luxurious sniffs, and spouting obscure factoids about the vintage - persists, making the rest of us feel lost in a seemingly elite world.
In fact, anyone and everyone can appreciate wine. The Learning Annex Presents the Pleasure of Wine is a straightforward guide that squeezes a seminar's worth of information into a book and answers questions such as:
* What are the different types of wine?
* What kinds of wine come from France, Italy, North America, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, and South America?
* How do I taste wine, and how do I pair wine with food?
* What are some fun ways to integrate wine into my life?

Full of sidebars and other special features, The Learning Annex Presents the Pleasure of Wine gives you the tools and knowledge you need to select, judge, and enj oy wine - and all in a single night's reading

Michael Broadbent, wine critic, writer, auctioneer and much-admired expert revolutionised the wine trade with his first edition of Wine Tasting in 1968 and has continued to capture the magic of wine for over 50 years, bringing it to the page and to the public in compelling detail, always tinged with his uniquely wry sense of humour. Michael's original text (from the 1975 edition) updated with the latest vintages and footnotes revealing Michael's reactions to the changing wine scene. Personal tributes to Michael from Hugh Johnson OBE, Jancis Robinson OBE MW, Steven Spurrier, the late Gerard Basset OBE MW MS, and international wine auctioneers Paul Bowker and Fritz Hatton. "He had added what the wine trade had lacked; a veneer of scholarship, and a dealer of genius." - Hugh Johnson "A must read" - Ian Harris, CEO of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust

A short course in wine appreciation that’s easy, practical, and fun

What’s the difference between a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc? Can you ever serve red wine with fish? In this fast, focused primer, wine experts Ian Blackburn and Allison Levine answer these and dozens of other basic wine questions, sharing their enthusiasm and giving people the know-how they need to stop worrying about wine and start enjoying it.

Ian Blackburn (Los Angeles, CA) has taught more than 10,000 people about wine through his courses and seminars. He is a consulting wine educator for Cordon Bleu California School of Culinary Arts and founder of the LearnAboutWine Web site.
Allison Levine (Los Angeles, CA) is the Director of Marketing, Public Relations, and Events for the LearnAboutWine Web site and also holds a position on the local board of the American Institute of Wine and Food.

La Fee Verte (or "The Green Fairy") has intoxicated artists, poets, and writers ever since the late eighteenth century. Stories abound of absinthe's druglike sensations of mood lift and inspiration due to the presence of wormwood, its infamous "special" ingredient, which ultimately leads to delirium, homicidal mania, and death. Opening with the sensational 1905 Absinthe Murdres, Phil Baker offers a cultural history of absinthe, from its modest origins as an herbal tonic through its luxuriantly morbid heyday in the late nineteenth century. Chronicling a fascinatintly lurid cast of historical characters who often died young, the absinthe scrapbook includes Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Dowson, Aleister Crowley, Arthur machen, August Strindberg, Alfred Jarry, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Allais, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. Along with discussing the rituals and modus operandi of absinthe drinking, Baker reveals the recently discovered pharmacology of how real absinthe actually works on the nervous system, and he tests the various real and fake absinthe products that are available overseas. Written with "seductive verve and gentle insight" (Times Literary Supplement), The Book of Absinthe is a witty, erudite primer to the world's most notorious drink.