California's Napa Valley is one of the world's premier wine regions today, but this has not always been true. James T. Lapsley's entertaining history explains how a collective vision of excellence among winemakers and a keen sense of promotion transformed the region and its wines following the repeal of Prohibition. Focusing on the formative years of Napa's fine winemaking, 1934 to 1967, Lapsley concludes with a chapter on the wine boom of the 1970s, placing it in a social context and explaining the role of Napa vineyards in the beverage's growing popularity. Names familiar to wine drinkers appear throughout these pages-Beaulieu, Beringer, Charles Krug, Christian Brothers, Inglenook, Louis Martini-and the colorful stories behind the names give this book a personal dimension. As strong-willed, competitive winemakers found ways to work cooperatively, both in sharing knowledge and technology and in promoting their region, the result was an unprecedented improvement in wine quality that brought with it a new reputation for the Napa Valley. In The Silverado Squatters, Robert Louis Stevenson refers to wine as "bottled poetry," and although Stevenson's reference was to the elite vineyards of France, his words are appropriate for Napa wines today. Their success, as Lapsley makes clear, is due to much more than the beneficence of sun and soil. Craft, vision, and determination have played a part too, and for that, wine drinkers the world over are grateful. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996.

Bestselling author Harpur has created a glorious celebration of the magic and mystery of wine. Here is a sweeping look at the deep connection between wine and spirituality from ancient times to today. With its abundance of apt quotations, spiritual wisdom, and lavish images, The Spirituality of Wine is a book to be treasured by wine lovers of every persuasion.

This is a practical, jargon-free guide to making your first bottle of perfect homemade wine. It includes a wide selection of seasonal winemaking recipes with new twists on traditional favourites. It also includes mouth-watering colour photography throughout. If you've been thinking of trying your hand at home winemaking, delay no longer! It's easier than you think to make wonderful wine at home. Get started today with this practical guide to making your first bottle of perfect homemade wine. Author Lori Stahl demystifies essential winemaking techniques with friendly, jargon-free instructions and gorgeous colour photography. She begins by taking you step by step through making wine from a kit, and then shows you how to go beyond the kit with creative additions. Soon you'll be making your own flavourful wine from fresh grapes, apples, berries, and even flowers and herbs. This home winemaking companion offers a wide selection of seasonal winemaking recipes, new twists on traditional favourites, and sweet ways to enjoy and indulge in the wines you create. Even if you have never made wine before, Making Your Own Wine at Home will show you everything you need to master an intriguing and rewarding new hobby.

Between Bordeaux and the Spanish border, reaching east to the Massif Central and the river valleys of the Dordogne and Lot, and south to the foothills of the Pyrenees, lies a unique and little-known viticultural landscape. "South-West France" is a wine lover's paradise that cultivates an astonishing array of grape varieties, many that grow nowhere else, and produces a fascinating assortment of wines. In this book, Paul Strang covers the South-West with enthusiasm and keen expertise, providing a history of its wine industry, including a near collapse and unlikely rebirth, and introducing readers to a region that seems to defy globalization. The outstanding local wines - made by idiosyncratic growers motivated by a passion for their profession - range from inky Tannats to honeyed late-harvest Semillons. Intrepid readers are invited to rediscover this beautiful part of France, already well known for its cuisine, castles, and cave art, for its earthy and intriguing wines. This book is the winner of the 2009 GOURMAND World Cookbook Awards' 'Best Wine Atlas/Tourism Book in the World'.

From the foremost master of cheese in the country, Max McCalman, comes a practical twist on wine and cheese pairings that includes detailed information about the history, production and unique flavor of fifty of the world's finest cheeses, as well as the accompanying information about the best wine varietals and vintages to pair them with.
The easy-to-navigate swatchbook format fans out to reveal the ideal wine and cheese match for any occasion.

Jurassic, basalt, moraine, flint, alluvial, magma: what are these words and what do they have to do with wine? The answers are here in this book. They are geological terms that reflect a bond between wine and the land. Understanding geology, however, is tricky. Geological concepts are obscure; processes can be imperceptibly slow, invisible, and unimaginably ancient. The terminology is formidable, such that even the names of common rocks carry an air of mystery. Geology is introduced plainly, starting with basic principles, all in the context of wine. The emphasis is on the kinds of processes that shape vineyards, and on the minerals, rocks and soils that host the vines. Geological words now commonly seen in wine writings are systematically explained. You will learn the stories behind some of the names, the human face of geology. The book also explores how the geology-wine connection manifests in the finished product and evaluates its importance, particularly in the contexts of minerality, terroir, and wine taste. The fact is that geology is increasingly being promoted in the world of wine; the aim here is to help it be properly understood.

Robert V. Camuto's interest in wine turned into a passion when he moved to France and began digging into local soils and cellars. Corkscrewed recounts Camuto's journey through France's myriad regions-and how the journey brought about a profound change in everything he believed about wine. The world of great wines was once dominated by great Bordeaux chateaux. As those chateaux were bought up by moguls and international corporations, the heart of French winemaking moved into the realm of small producers, whose wines reflect the stunning diversity of regional environment, soil, and culture-terroir. In this book we follow Camuto across France as he works harvesting grapes in Alsace, learns about wine and bombs in Corsica, and eats and drinks his way through the world's greatest bacchanalia in Burgundy. Along the route he discovers a new generation of winemakers who have rejected chemicals, additives, and technologically altered wines. His book charts an odyssey into this new world of French wine, a world of biodynamic winegrowing, herbal treatments, lunar cycles, and grape varieties long ago dismissed as "difficult." A celebration of the diversity that makes French wine more than a mere commodity, Camuto's work is a delightful look beyond the supermarket to the various flavors offered by the true vintners of France.

Is it naff to take a bottle of wine to a dinner party? Are red wine and cheese really a match? Should you stick to the house plonk in restaurants? What's so funny about wine? Is it the fact that we take it so seriously? Ned Halley's affectionately irreverent wine jaunt unearths some of the quaint histories and dark secrets of many of the world's most famous wines. Instead of lordly suggestions for the cellar, here is vulgar advice on investing in wine for profit. Wine and health also comes under the spotlight: is it good for us or bad for us? And then there's wine criticism: are writers who tell you what to drink, and what not to drink, simply insane? There's a look, too, at wine marketing: are the biggest-selling brands as good as the hype?

"Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait" fixes its searching and intimate gaze on writers as they have seldom been seen before. These striking images were captured at a location where the writer lives, works or plays. Each is accompanied by a crisp and insightful vignette about the experience of photographing the writer, thoughts about the uses of artists portraits, and, often, a touch of refined literary gossip.

Terence Byrnes, whose own collection of short stories, Wintering Over, garnered critical praise, removed himself from the limelight tobehind the camera to photograph other writers. For a period of ten years, he visited writers in their homes and, while discussing the writing life with them, photographed them at their ease. The literary portrait, Byrnes says, had become moribund, showing writers as stalwart or fetching in various degrees, and barricaded by books like a university don from a British novel of manners. These portraits show the photographer as an interloper to whom the writer must react as an individual, not as a role.

The history of the literary portrait and its place in the creation of commercial success and literary canons will be examined in an introductory critical essay, The Seductive Frontispiece.

For centuries, France has long been the world's greatest wine-producing country. Its wines are the global gold standard, prized by collectors, and its winemaking regions each offer unique tasting experiences, from the spice of Bordeaux to the berry notes of the Loire Valley. Although grape variety, climate, and the skill of the winemaker are essential in making good wine, the foundation of a wine's character is the soil in which its grapes are grown. Who could better guide us through the relationship between the French land and the wine than a geologist, someone who deeply understands the science behind the soil? Enter scientist Charles Frankel.
In "Land and Wine," Frankel takes readers on a tour of the French winemaking regions to illustrate how the soil, underlying bedrock, relief, and microclimate shape the personality of a wine. The book's twelve chapters each focus in depth on a different region, including the Loire Valley, Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne, Provence, the Rhone valley, and Bordeaux, to explore the full meaning of "terroir. " In this approachable guide, Frankel describes how Cabernet Franc takes on a completely different character depending on whether it is grown on gravel or limestone; how Sauvignon yields three different products in the hills of Sancerre when rooted in limestone, marl, or flint; how Pinot Noir will give radically different wines on a single hill in Burgundy as the vines progress upslope; and how the soil of each chateau in Bordeaux has a say in the blend ratios of Merlot and Cabernet-Sauvignon. "Land and Wine" provides a detailed understanding of the variety of French wine as well as a look at the geological history of France, complete with volcanic eruptions, a parade of dinosaurs, and a menagerie of evolution that has left its fossils flavoring the vineyards.
Both the uninitiated wine drinker and the confirmed oenophile will find much to savor in this fun guide that Frankel has spiked with anecdotes about winemakers and historic wine enthusiasts--revealing which kings, poets, and philosophers liked which wines best--while offering travel tips and itineraries for visiting the wineries today.

This thorough and inspiring book provides a vicarious tour of the best in wine bottle storage. Visit more than 100 absolutely stunning, private wine cellars in over 200 beautiful color photographs. Peruse racking systems, tasting tables, and artful touches, created by leading wine cellar designers, including Paul Wyatt, Kathleen Valentini, Gary LaRose, and Doug Smith. Additionally, this is a guidebook to wine cellars in some of the world's most renowned hotels and restaurants, where private parties can reserve a table and dine amidst coveted vintages. The book also visits handsome displays in restaurants that showcase wine programs to customers. The result is thousands of wonderful ideas for wine storage and display. This is the first work of its kind, making it an invaluable guide for architects, designers, and discerning homeowners and restaurateurs.

Few pleasures are more gratifying than pouring a glass of fine wine, admiring its clarity and color, savoring its rich bouquet, raising it to your lips, and knowing that you made it yourself. With this complete guide to home winemaking, such pleasures can be yours with little fuss and lots of fun. The Home Winemaker's Companion will guide you as you progress from making your very first batch of kit wine to mastering advanced techniques for making wine from fresh grapes. Included are Gene Spaziani's tried-and-true recipes for 115 delectable wines -- even port and champagne!

Making consistently great wine at home is easy; the hardest part is being patient while your wine ages!

Award-winning sommelier Chris Morrison believes that your wine decisions should be driven by your own sense of taste - and by the way you like to eat, drink and live. In This Is Not A Wine Guide he helps readers develop the confidence to choose, purchase, serve, share and ultimately even collect wine without feeling the need to rely on the 'old rules' involving notes, scores, jargon and reviews. Morrison answers the question all of us ponder when faced with choosing wine from a wine list or from the bottleshop shelf: 'Where do I start?' This Is Not A Wine Guide tackles the fundamentals and then moves from the bottle forwards: into the reasons you choose it, open it and drink it; with what company, under what circumstances, in what glasses - and with what food. Because this is a wine book for people who also love food. For Morrison, food and its taste and textures represent the narrative that can unlock wine - 'wine doesn't make sense without food'. This Is Not A Wine Guide is packed with information and advice to help you get the most out of your wine experience, whether it's cracking a bottle for a barbecue, navigating a wine list in a restaurant, wondering what to serve with kimchi, or what to do when the cork crumbles.

During the past eight decades French vineyards, wineries, and wine marketing efforts have undergone such profound changes--from technological, scientific, economic, and commercial standpoints--that the transformation is revolutionary for an industry dating back thousands of years. Here Leo Loubre examines how the modernization of Western society has brought about new conditions in well-established markets, making the introduction of novel techniques and processes a matter of survival for winegrowers.

Not only does Loubre explain how altered environmental conditions have enabled pioneering enologists to create styles of wine more suited to contemporary tastes and living arrangements, but he also discusses the social impact of the wine revolution on the employees in the industry. The third generation of this new viticultural regime has encountered working and living conditions drastically different from those of its predecessors, while witnessing the near disappearance of the working class and the decline of small and medium growers of ordinary wines.

Originally published in 1990.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Is wine an artisanal creation or industrial product? The first edition of Wine Myths and Reality was widely praised for its innovative view of how wine is made and what distinguishes wines from different places. The world of wine is constantly changing and this second edition is expanded and completely rewritten to take account of new developments. Panoramic in its scope, magisterial in its treatment, and meticulous in its research, Wine Myths and Reality explores the world of wine extensively. From monks treading grapes in the Middle Ages to the latest research into grapevine DNA, this compelling book presents the authoritative account of how wine is really made. Practices in viticulture and vinification are explained, the tricks of the wine trade are revealed, the methods of the New and the Old Worlds are scrutinised, and their wines are evaluated. Extensively illustrated with photographs, maps and charts, the approachable and entertaining style immediately engages the reader in the wine universe. An overview of all major wine-producing countries extends from the powerful wines of the New World to the classic wines of Europe. Does terroir really matter? Is the international style taking over? Will global warming destroy the existing wine-producing regions? And extrapolating from current trends, what will wine be like in the future?

In the eighteenth century, Ireland's elite could choose from a wide range of wines, but their favourite was claret - the red wine of Bordeaux. Whereas Britain's wine drinkers turned to port in this period, and America's elite filled their glasses with Madeira, in Ireland, claret flowed in the social world of the privileged classes. This book looks back to earliest times to trace the story of how and why a French wine became what Jonathan Swift fondly called "Irish wine". Exploring the social life of claret in Georgian Ireland through a range of period sources reveals the social meanings attached to this wine and expands our knowledge of Ireland's fascinating food history.