"A standout among the drink books published this year, which ought to be on the Christmas list of every wine lover, even if they don't think they have much interest in American wine." -Victoria Moore, The Telegraph "This is a book for novices and geeks interested in the significance of California through America's wine history, from the swashbuckling era of Agoston Haraszthy through modern Napa's cult cabernets and today's despair over wildfires and drought." -David McIntyre, Washington Post "New York Times picks On California for their "This Year's Best Wine Books": ". Its short selections from nearly three dozen writers offer impressionistic, thought-provoking views of the state and its winemaking history."-New York Times On California explores the grapes and the people who have made California wine great. The pioneers, the boffins, the whizz-kids and scientists, many of whom tell their stories on its pages - some in precious archive material, others have set down their thoughts mid-pandemic in 2021: Randall Grahm, Gerald Asher, Steven Spurrier, Paul Draper and Warren Winiarski take a bow.... Includes: California wine and the future: where will the 'California spirit' lead next? The 'Hollywood Grape': our authors chart the path of Cabernet Sauvignon, from the wish-list of Thomas Jefferson to the hallowed hillsides of Stag's Leap and Screaming Eagle 1976? Of course it was a competition! Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher look back at the motivations behind the famous Paris wine tasting Top New York sommelier Victoria James tells of her near-death introduction to the whacky world of winemaking in Sonoma Will the real Zinfandel please stand up? Paul Draper seeks out the true heritage of California's versatile orphan grape Contributions from top California writers: Elaine Chukan Brown, Mary Margaret McCamic MW, Karen MacNeil, Esther Mobley, Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Liz Thach MW, Clare Tooley MW, and Kelli White Hugh Johnson, Jane Anson and Fiona Morrison MW introduce California's intrepid wine pioneers Rex Pickett's Sideways heroes, Jack and Miles, clink glasses over the Central Coast's finest Pinot Noir A-Z: from 'Bob' Mondavi to Xylem sap-sensors and pink Zinfandel - California wine in bite-size

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.

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.

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.

Embrace the magic of tarot and perfectly match the cards with mixed drinks in this beautifully illustrated bar book. "Don't take advice from tequila, that's the tarot's job." Tarot & Tequila is a positive and spiritually uplifting guide that includes both basic and humorous tequila-inspired meanings of all 78 tarot cards that both beginners and experienced tarot card readers will relate to. Featuring 40 cocktail recipes-one for each Major Arcana card plus bonus Minor Arcana drinks, too-based on the attributes of the cards themselves, as well as a mystical pairing that explains why professional tarot card reader David Ross chose to pair each card to their respective drink, this magical mixology book can be used as both a guide and a recipe book. Try drinks like: -The High Priestess, an elixir of tequila, lemon juice, thyme, and seltzer -The Chariot, a tequila version of a Moscow Mule, with lemon, beet, and apple juices -The Four of Wands, a positive concoction of rum, homemade fennel liqueur, and more Perfect for fans of drinking, bartending, and tarot alike, this beautifully illustrated book makes both a perfect gift and a must-have addition to any home bar.

Shake up your cocktail game with The Home Mixologist, the ultimate guide to crafting delicious and impressive cocktails right at home.

Whether you're a seasoned bartender or a beginner looking to elevate your home bartending skills, The Home Mixologist offers a wide range of classic and creative cocktail recipes to suit any occasion. Mix up your favorite classics and try out innovative drinks that use unexpected ingredients and techniques. Unleash your inner mixologist with tips for creating infusions and other bespoke ingredients. With easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, you'll learn how to create perfectly balanced cocktails and impress your guests.

Inside you'll find:

• 150 cocktail recipes
• Everything you need for your home bar
• Recipes for infusions, syrups, tinctures, and more
• Stunning, full-color photography

Italian Wine For Dummies explores all the major wine regions of Italy from Piedmont in the north to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, explaining the major grapes and the best producers. Explains how Italy names its wines (such as Chianti and Pinot Grigio) and how the grapes, both native and imported," affect modern Italian wine production. This friendly guide describes "the best food wines in the universe," and how to pair Italian wine with food in classic and creative combinations. It details how to buy, drink, and store Italian wines. Plus, it includes a pronunciation guide, a glossary of terms, a vintage chart, and grapes-wine classification wine chart. Also look for helpful regional map illustrations."

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).

An elegantly bound collection of fine wine writing past and present - the perfect gift for wine lovers everywhere (or the wine lovers in their life). With contributions from Michael Broadbent on good and bad vintages, Ian Maxwell Campbell on Bordeaux vs Burgundy, George Orwell and PG Wodehouse on the complementary pleasures of wine and tea, Randall Grahm on the search for California's 'magic grape' and Andrew Caillard MW on the art of the wine label, it brims with wit and wisdom from some of the most erudite wine writers ever to raise a glass. Also includes Steven Spurrier, Jason Tesauro, Jane MacQuitty, Giles MacDonogh, Philippe de Rothschild, Fiona Morrison MW, Dan Keeling, Charles Walter Berry and many more. Like Cyril Ray's classic Compleat Imbiber before it, In Vino Veritas might rightfully be described as 'the quintessential late-evening or bedtime book for those who like wine'. 'Denied wine's bridge to gregariousness, "cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears," as Macbeth once complained, we need an antidote, and rummaging around in this anthology of wine writing is a good one: It's a set of keys to open the windows and let some sun shine in.' - World of Fine Wine

Ever since its invention in the late 18th century, the cocktail has been a global traveller. Born in England and raised in America, a cocktail can take influences from all over the world and mix them up into exciting new combinations. This book celebrates this globe-trotting history through 80 cocktails - each with its own story to tell. Bartender and writer Chad Parkhill takes you on a whirlwind global tour, with recipes designed to be made at home. You'll learn about the surprising military history behind the bubbly Venetian Spritz; how the G&T moved from India to England (and why the best in the world are now made in Spain); and how France's Burgundy region turned tragedy into triumph with the Kir. Accompanied by gorgeous vintage-style illustrations, these stories and recipes are an ode to the joys of travel, history, and drinking.

This stunning guide invites you into the story of sake--an ancient beverage finding its way in a modern world. Whether you're a sake novice or an experienced connoisseur, Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake offers fascinating insights, practical tips, and rich stories about this popular beverage. Authors and experts Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay personally undertook the challenge of visiting 35 artisanal sake breweries in Japan, the US, and Canada to interview makers and document every stage of the sake brewing process. Nancy's celebrated journalistic background combined with Michael's sake sommelier experience have led to an engaging and informative look at the world of sake. With over 300 color photos and a lively narrative, this fascinating book provides: A comprehensive introduction to the science and history of sake brewing in Japan A look at how fine craft sakes are brewed today using traditional methods and no additives--only rice, water, koji, and yeast Histories of Japan's venerable breweries, some of them over 300 years old! An answer to why some breweries are able to turn out a superior quality of sake A discussion of rice varieties and the contentious topic of terroir in the context of sake making. Current trends in the world of sake, including the fine sakes now brewed outside Japan Tasting notes and recommendations for top craft sakes you have not heard about yet This book also includes personal recipes from several top Japanese sake-brewing families along with food-pairing tips and a chapter on the authors' own Japanese sake-bar-going adventures.

"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

Written over a century ago when Japan was abandoning its rich traditions to embrace the hysteria of colonization, this classic written by Okakura Kakuzo helped preserve the masterpieces of Japanese art and culture by illuminating the spirit of the Japanese Tea Masters. The Book of Tea doesn't focus on the Tea Ceremony itself, but the Zen Buddhist thought behind it known as the Way of Tea or Chado. Kakuzo teaches us to listen to the language of flowers as well as the language of art. His considerable charm is as apparent today as it was one hundred years ago as he introduces us to the aesthetic and culture of Japan. This edition has a new foreword by Andrew Juniper who runs the Wabi-Sabi Art Gallery in West Sussex, England and an introduction by Liza Dalby, the first American woman to be fully trained as a geisha in the 70's.

This book shows you how to make 65 fresh and natural juices for health, vitality and delicious drinking - with a fruit and vegetable guide and 400 photographs. It is a fabulous collection of 65 refreshing recipes for super healthy juices, vital veggie blends, extra exotic coolers and perfect party drinks. You can find the right juice for any occasion from simple Fresh Orange Squash and Ruby Red Lemonade to a Kiwi and Stem Ginger Spritzer and a Broccoli Booster. It offers a comprehensive introduction provides information on ingredients, their properties and health benefits, plus authoritative advice on vitamins and minerals. Cook's tips and variations occur throughout the book. Fresh, homemade juices are delicious, quick and easy to make as well as being packed full of nutrients. This book gives full instructions on how make 65 sensational mixes. A handy reference section gives practical information on juicing equipment, techniques and ingredients. This is followed by the recipe section where you can tempt your tastebuds with Watermelon and Star Anise Fizz and Thyme-Scented Plum Lush, get an instant detox with the Clean Sweep, or revitalize your energy levels with the Veggie Boost.Whether you want a tasty, instant health boost, a sweet treat or a refreshing thirst quencher, this essential guide has everything you need.

How did drinking the infusions of a unique plant from China become a vital part of everyday life? This gift book presents an entertaining and illuminating introduction to the history and culture of tea, from its origins in the Far East to the flavours and properties of different varieties, and the rituals of tea preparation and drinking around the world. This simple hot beverage is suffused with artistic and religious overtones. The Chinese Ch'a Ching gave very precise guidelines to the preparation and sipping of tea, and the Japanese tea ceremony elevated it to an art form. Following its introduction to the royal court in the seventeenth century, the British created their own traditions, from the elaborate etiquette of afternoon tea to the humble pot of tea at the heart of family life, and the modern appreciation for specialty infusions.

From the bestselling author of This Naked Mind, this journal will give you the tools you need to take your relationship with alcohol into your own hands. Using thought-provoking prompts, checklists, and activities, Annie Grace will help you to examine what's really happening when you drink, what it is you get out of it, and whether you really need it at all. Eye-opening and empowering, this journal will transform your attitude to alcohol, for good.

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.