What am I reading?
I am a pretty voracious reader, and go through both current and older books relating to beer, wine and whisky at a good clip. My intention is for this page to be a repository of brief reviews as I read these books. I’ll be adding a highly recommended reading page for those books that I think are worth others reading – everything else goes here.
Currently Reading (last updated January 14, 2010): Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology, by Randall Grahm. Looking forward to digging into this Christmas present.
Recently Read (alphabetical by author’s last name for the pendants out there; reviews roll off after one year, or are moved to my recommended reading page):
Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol by Iain Gately. A Cultural History of Alcohol written by anyone else would almost certainly have been a very different journey. The anecdotes and trends Mr. Gately chose to emphasize are certainly ones that caught his fancy, and his passion in writing about them shone. They weren’t always what I would have chosen, and at a couple of junctures I internally shouted “GET ON WITH IT ALREADY” but the overall impression was one of a personal voyage. The book starts with a general prehistory of various alcoholic drinks in their places of origin, but the emphasis for much of the book is on the United States and England. I would have been interested to have a more global perspective throughout the book, rather than bits here and there, but I can’t fathom the amount of time and research the book took in its current scope. Mr. Gately’s writing is generally engaging and interesting – enough to keep me going for 500 pages – which is not an easy trick in an essentially factual book. Overall, it’s well worth reading, particularly the portions on the early American colonies, and the evolution of the prohibitionists. Recommended.
Treading Grapes: Walking Through the Vineyards of Tuscany by Rosemary George. This was a bit of stylistic mismatch for me. The book consists of chronicles of a series of walks Ms. George took with her husband through the Tuscan countryside visiting various wineries along the way. Apart from small line drawings at the beginning of each chapter there are no illustrations or pictures, and Ms. George’s style of prose tends towards the “just the facts” style. While this is fine for descriptions of wine making techniques, vineyard composition, etc., but less than engaging for me when it comes to discussing the Tuscan countryside and history of the region. There is a lot of great information in the book, but I would use it more as a reference prior to a trip than as a source of daydreams while sitting next to the fire on a cold autumn evening (June, 2009).
Wine Bottle Closures, Jamie Goode (Flavour Press) A scientific review of the closure studies to date of publication. A fascinating, comprehensive and factual review of closure alternatives. If you want to understand the current research on how closures operate and what the benefits and shortcomings of each of them are this is your book. Blessedly free of bias. (April, 2009)
Pacific Pinot Noir, John Haeger (University of California Press). This is a companion volume to Haeger’s North American Pinot Noir. This one skips the excellent history and geographic sections of his previous book, and focuses on producer profiles, and a lot of them. The format of each profile is the same with a history of the producer, a recitation of vineyard sources, harvesting and wine-making protocals, and then anywhere from a couple to ten or so tasting notes. I found lots of good information, but plowing straight through became a bit tiresome and confusing as the stats on producer bled into the next. Mr. Haeger does his best to report the facts, but his personal palate preferences are necessarily present, and you can almost feel his pain in the descriptions of some of the wines he had to taste. Overall, I was able to come up with a list of a dozen or so producers I had not previously tried that sounded interesting to my particular preferences (low-ish alcohol, high-ish acidity, low-ish oak influence). If even a few of these work out, this book represents good value, and, for the pinot lover . (Jan, 2009)
