Despite having the word "Year" in its title, this article is not another cheesy 2008 recap post. Especially considering that I don't need another one of those, since I've posted about 240 of them in the last several days. Or something like that, anyway.
I will not be recapping 2008 here, but I will be renaming 2008.
In terms of measuring wine blogging success, 2008 was The Year of Dr. Vino, a.k.a. Tyler Colman. Come to think of it, 2007 was nearly the Year of Dr. Vino as well, considering Tyler received a James Beard nod for his writing that year. So, basically Tyler is kicking all kinds of ass in the blogosphere, but what made 2008 the Year of Dr. Vino was Tyler's superbad onslaught (both on and) offline with the release of two (very good) printed books.
You would probably expect a PhD holder in Poli-Sci to be a decent writer, so it's no surprise that the books are well-written. What is surprising (to me, at least) was how accessible Tyler's books are for the novice wine aficionado, and how well his blog writing style, which consists primarily of short articles that focus heavily on interactivity with his readership, translates to his longer format works. Capturing that accessibility is not a skill that most of the academics that I know posses.
While Tyler can be a quiet voice online (case in point, how is there justice in the universe when my twitter account has more followers than Dr. Vino's??), he was all over traditional media in 2008: in addition to publishing two books, he could be found in the pages of major newspapers and wine mags, as well as on television. For example, Tyler is a semi-frequent guest on FOX Business, discussing the impact of the recent economic downturn on the purchase of luxury items like Champagne (see inset pic for how I might have handled this situation if I were Tyler).
This significance of this sort of credibility (not to mention shrewd brand building) should not be overlooked. Tyler is quietly - and successfully - positioning himself as an erudite opera-goer to Gary Vanyerchuk's Joe 6-pack. Both are important, and both are signaling the establishment of a new breed of experts active in the field of wine appreciation.
I won't go into detail about Tyler's first book release, Wine Politics, because with a 9-month old baby that will start screaming to be fed at any moment, I simply don't have the time, except to say that it's a compelling work that those fascinated by wine should check out, especially considering how dependent the world of wine is (and has always been) on the world of politics.
I will say a bit more about Tyler's second book, however, A Year of Wine: Pairings, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season, which Tyler sent to me several weeks ago, and which I've only recently gotten a chance to read (before you flame me for being lazy, remember: 9-month old!).
It's not that A Year of Wine presents novel information that has otherwise eluded many of the other excellent books for budding wine geeks already on the market. In fact, it doesn't really present anything totally new, even though it does have incredibly useful information (for example: how to successfully navigate the wine list when at an important business dinner for the first time).
The masterstroke is that A Year of Wine is a wine intro book penned by someone who has so garned so much credibility both on and offline. Put another way, Tyler speaks both Internet and brick-and-mortar.
While it can be enjoyed by just about anyone who is new to wine, A Year of Wine is probably best suited to those who already know what they like in their wine, but are looking to understand wine more fully and want a different approach then learning the basics and then exploring each region in order of importance / volume of production (which seems the typical layout for most wine reference material). A Year of Wine reflects Tyler's post-grad writing style, but might also appeal to a much younger audience (see pic below - though this author had to remove A Year of Wine from that reader, as she'd found it compelling enough to begin eating the pages).
Anyway, if I have a criticism to level at Tyler (and of course I do, because I'm incorrigible), aside from a distinct lack of overall mentions to 1WineDude.com on his blog, it's that Tyler needs to take his focus on interactivity with his blog readership and devote similar focus to his interaction within the community of online wine writers, retailers, and wineries. His voice is quiet within that space - it could benefit significantly from Tyler's wisdom and experience, and his penchant for keeping things honest. Tyler, we need ya here, man!
Cheers!
(images: amazon.com, foxnews.com)
A Year of Dr. Vino (A Book Review... Sort Of...)
The Botanist, The Vintner, and The Politicos (Book Review)
An alternative title to Christy Campbell's The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Was Saved For The World might well be "How French Politicos Tried to Set Wine Science Back 200 Years, Putting All of the World's Vineyards in Perilous Jeopardy, Yet Somehow Told Without Conveying Much Suspense."
To be fair, The Botanist and the Vintner is well-written, impeccably researched, and expertly manages to make the topic of the phylloxera epidemic interesting (even for non-history-buffs, and non-wine-geeks).
Campbell's chapter explaining the strange reproductive cycle of the phylloxera louse alone is probably worth the purchase price of the book. It's no wonder that the complicated sexual life of the pest confounded some of the greatest scientific minds of the late 1800s - any species whose short-lived male variant has no anus, no mouth, and no digestive system is so frighteningly bizarre, there's no way you could dream that up something that odd.
And yet, I walked away from this book feeling oddly underwhelmed and a little unfulfilled.
If you're a fan of wine, eventually you will come across mention of the tiny vineyard pest that came perilously close to wiping out the world's supply of fine vinifera. In summary (and this is a very, very high-level summary), the little sucker feasts on the vine, and uses various parts of the vine as breeding ground.
The trouble for European vinifera is that it didn't evolve with the louse as did the vines in North America, so when international travel and shipping became viable in the 1800s, the pest finally had a means to travel from its native land. Many American vines have rootstock that can recover from the scars left by feeding phylloxera - most European vines didn't, and they began to die at an alarming rate as the louse spread across Europe. Because of its complex sex life, it took 19th Century scientists years to come to agreement on how to stop the pest (grafting onto American rootstock).
The Botanist and the Vintner takes you through this journey of vine destruction, and exposes you to the frustrating world of European politics (which, by most accounts sadly has made little appreciable progress since the 1800s), which delayed action on recognizing and then implementing the final root cause solution to the deadly invasion.
Not to mention the sizable financial prize that was due to those that found the real cure, most of which never got paid out by the French government (let's not go there).
The book handles all of this well, but during the telling suggests a potentially dire future facing the vineyards of the present day that are grafted onto seemingly "safe" American rootstocks. It appears that some of those rootstocks are again becoming susceptible to an evolving phylloxera.
But after teasing us with the potential of another winemaking Dead Zone, The Botanist and the Vintner decides not to go there. Which is a shame, because the book starts there in its Prologue, which begins by describing an aerial surveillance of spreading phylloxera infestations in California in 1994. We are taken back to the present in the Postscript... to take a look at wine conisseurs chasing after wine from ungrafted viniferia vines as if they were the El Dorado treasure of the wine world.
No modern phylloxera update. Why start there if you're not going to finish there? It felt like a bit of unrealized suspenseful potential to me.
So, if you're looking for the history of the first world phylloxera louse epidemic, The Botanist and the Vintner is your book. Just don't expect a full-circle treatise on the topic for modern times.
Cheers!
(images: amazon.com, avenuevine.com, calwineries.com)
Wine - The Book I Wanted To Hate
I really wanted to hate this book.
I was sent a promotional copy of Wine (edited by Andre Domine, who has authored a number of wine- and culinary-related books), and form the moment that it arrived, I was primed to hate it.
It's huge. It's impossible to comfortably read it in bed (trust me, I've tried it). At well over 900 pages and what feels like nearly 20 lbs of weight, it seemed better suited to my workout routine crunches than my wine education.
My wife instantly hated it. With an eight-month-old baby in one hand and a full shopping bag in the other, my wife attempted to kick the shipping box in which Wine arrived from the front porch and into our house (the kicking, I mean - the book did not arrive from the front porch... ah, you get the idea), which she told me nearly broke her foot.
But a funny thing happened on my way to hating this book - I fell in love with it. And now this post is going to be precariously close to sounding like an advertisement for Wine. But I don't care so much, because the book Rocks...
When I cracked open this book, I was thinking that the world needs another wine reference / introduction / tome like I need a hole in the head.
The first chapter states "Wine... has also become more egalitarian in that never before in its history has such a hige, high-quality range been available to so many people."
You could say the same thing about wine books, I thought.
The truth is, if you're a wine novice, you have dozens of decent choices when it comes to finding books to increase your wine know-how. If you're a wine expert, there are a few key resources that you will undoubtedly tap into from time to time (especially the Oxford Companion). Newcomers to the wine world also have a good many wine resources available to them on the web, and most wine blogs are in some way geared towards the newbie.
Those of you who are past the point of being a beginner, but are not in the trade, or are otherwise someone with an 'Intermediate' level of wine knowledge, you have far fewer resources available to you.
Which is why most of you who fall into the "Intermediate" camp will probably dig Wine. It combines lucid and informed writing about all aspects of vino with some beautiful (but mostly functionally relevant) photographs, useful maps, and information on most of the world's winemaking regions. In a way, it's a bit like a one-stop-shop combination of the excellent Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia and the fabulously-illustrated World Atlas of Wine.
Worth a look - even if you might need to hit the gym and bulk up before being able to lift it...
Cheers!
(images: amazon.com)
"Wine on Tuesdays" on a Wednesday (Book Review)
I figured that it was about time for another book review on 1WineDude.com, so I'm jumping back into the book review swing of things with my take on Debra & Keith Gordon's Wine on Tuesdays: Be a Serious Wine Drinker Without Taking Wine Too Seriously.
[ Full disclosure: I received a media copy of Wine on Tuesdays. Not that Dude doesn't buy his own books, but... ]
The Low Down
Co-author Debra Gordon is no stranger to wine writing, having penned material for Wine Enthusiast, Wine & Vines, and Wine Adventures. She and husband co-author Keith are also dabbling in blogging.
Wine on Tuesdays reflects the Gordon's writing experience - it's well-written, accessible, and at turns funny and engaging. The tone of Wine on Tuesdays is lighthearted and its target is squarely on the wine novice, which puts it into the now-very-crowded field of wine introduction texts.
Which is the main problem with reviewing Wine on Tuesdays - it's good, but (for me) lacked any real "wow" moments to give me a clear picture of its ideal target audience. While I found some topics covered superbly well (it has one of the best intro chapters on Champagne that I've ever come across), other topics (usually the more complex ones, notably dessert wines) are casually treated and maybe a touch oversimplified - which could be confusing for some readers, especially those new to wine... who theoretically happen to be the target audience...
Buy It or Skip It?
That depends.
Given the tone and overall style of Wine on Tuesdays, If you're a budding wine lover you could do a lot worse than this well-written guide. Whether or not you will enjoy it is largely a matter of presentation - with so many great overall wine introduction guides available in the marketplace, the one best suited to you may really be down to writing style preference and the order of how the topics are presented. If you want to get into wine in a very structured way, starting with grape varietals first, then try Wine on Tuesdays. If you prefer a less structured approach, then there are better options.
It won't replace my current favorite wine intro book, Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine, and it probably won't make its way into my list of Essential Wine Reads, but Wine on Tuesdays is certainly a viable alternative for budding wine enthusiasts - enjoyable, and packed full of relevant and helpful wine info.
Cheers!
(images: amazon.com)
Book Review: Angels, Thieves and Winemakers (Wine Poems)
Joseph Mills, author of A Guide to North Carolina's Wineries and faculty member of the NC School of the Arts, recently released a book of wine poems titled Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers.
I was contacted by Mills, who asked if I'd be interested in writing a review of the new collection. It didn't take me long to say Yes, since
- my undergrad major was English Lit, and I really dig poetry (not a well-known fact about me, I suppose), and
- I really, really dig wine (hopefully you've caught onto that one already).
In the realm of wine poetry, Mills doesn't exactly have a ton of competition. Hafiz comes to mind, and I'm not sure 600+ year old verse is the best to go by for the purpose of comparative analysis. So, we'll just have to review Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers on its own poetic merits.
How does Mills' collection stand up?...
The Low Down
Dylan Thomas he's not, but Mills has a gift for creating interesting and accessible verse, often including a subversive and thought-provoking twist.
Take, for example, the poem Opening Up which starts (quite humorously) by putting the reader in a familiar position:
As the dinner progressed / people's comments / about each wine / became increasingly / ridiculous, and when / the woman beside me / praised the way a red / unfolded in the mouth, / I snorted so hard / I almost shot snot / onto my plate.
If we're lucky / as the years unfold / we open up / until we reach a point / we can appreciate / one another's complexities / and even the tart irony / of finding yourself / at the table's next seat, / taking seriously, / so many of those things / you once mocked.
Buy it - If you're into wine, you'll find something to like in Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers.At their worst, Mills' poems read a bit too much like the short-hand from a personal journal. At their best, they're immediately accessible, clever, and offer nuggets of truth that are just dark enough to get you thinking.
I often found myself wishing Mills had ended a poem earlier to impart greater impact, rather than trying to tidy up his sentiment with an additional verse or two - it feels as though he sometimes errs on the side of playing it safe for the reader. In Sea Changes, Mills writes: "In college I read / the Iliad and Odessey, / and although I thought / they could be shorter, / overall they were better / than I expected" - I could apply the same critique to a number of the offerings in Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers.
But there's no doubting Mills' flair and cleverness, which alone make Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers a worthwhile read (preferably with a glass of interesting vino in one hand).
Cheers!
(images: fortscotch.files.wordpress.com, amazon.com, 24hourmuseum.org.uk)
Book Review: 101 Wines (or "Will Gary Vaynerchuk Save the World of Wine Reviews?")
You see, it's like this:
Gary Vaynerchuk is the Howard Stern of the on-line wine world.
In case you've been living under a rock for the last two years: Gary is the driving force behind Wine Library TV, an on-line video blog of wine reviews and palate-building tips that has become a sensation in the Wine 2.0 community.
In his chosen medium (in this case, web video), Gary - like Howard Stern - unleashes his slightly-irreverent style with over-the-top, grass-eating gusto. Depending on your demeanor, you might find Gary's love-it-or-hate-it, in-your-face style endearing and energizing, or downright exhausting.
Off-line - also like Howard Stern - things are bit less off-the-cuff, and a bit more calculated.
Gary has stated that he is not in the wine business for the money, but "for my soul." This assertion seems entirely genuine (otherwise, how could he sustain the energy levels on a daily basis!). But it only takes hearing a few sentences from his father (a sometimes-guest on his video episodes) delivered in a more straight-forward, no-nonsense approach to realize that business is business - and for business, it had better be at least partly about the money. That money comes by virtue of getting wine from the shelves of their N.J. family store (Wine Library) and into the glasses of wine consumers...
To that end, Gary has performed brilliantly, shrewdly parlaying his on-line exposure into business success: he has garnered TV spot appearances (4 minutes on Ellen will still get you far more exposure to more eyeballs than any on-line presence), spearheaded a tenfold factor growth of his family's brick-&-mortar store, and purchased on-line wine social networking website Corkd.com (with trails leading back to Wine Library).
Well, performed brilliantly notwithstanding his poor taste in NFL teams of course.*
Gary's approach is New Media, for sure - but it's sagacious, old-school business sense all the way.
Gary's latest foray into expanding his media media presence is the printed word: his first book, 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World hits the streets in paperback tomorrow. Following is my review of Gary's latest friendly assault on the wine world.
[ Full disclosure: I received 101 Wines from Gary's publicist for a review (under the condition that I could write any positive or negative reactions, of course). ]
If you're skeptical about a wine retailer writing a book of wine recommendations (I had my doubts as well), take note that not every wine in 101 Wines is available via Wine Library. At least, not yet anyway... I know this because I checked it myself.
The Low Down
Like Gary's video episodes, there is minimal wind-up (less than 15 pages of introduction) in 101 Wines, and maximum time (200+ pages) spent on extolling the virtues and colorful descriptions of his wine picks. For those bordering on ADD, the final 20+ pages of the book provide quick-hit lists of recommendations for holidays, or based on top his rankings."Without the benefit his exuberant live delivery, some of the written descriptions lack the punch they would otherwise have 'in person'"
Gary's enthusiasm translates to the printed page - mostly. Without the benefit of his exuberant live delivery, some of the written descriptions lack the punch they would otherwise have "in person" (case in point: a wine that has characteristics of a big guy in a barrel floating towards your mouth...).
Still, you have to give serious props to a self-described "wine guy for the average Joe" who isn't afraid to recommend wines made from Charbono, Tinto Fino (recognizing the sometimes-neglected rising star that is Spanish wine), or who is bold enough to spotlight excellent Lebanese wines. Hardly the first choices that the average Joe might be looking for at their local wine shop.
Like wine itself, 101 Wines is best consumed in responsible doses. This is no knock on the writing, which is witty and expressive. It's just an acknowledgment of the fact that reading about wine tasting is like trying to learn how to french kiss by studying a diagram. Fortunately, each wine in 101 Wines is given about two pages of focus, making every recommendation a quick-hit read so you can get on to creating a shopping list and finally tasting.
Buy It or Skip It?
Buy it. 101 Wines is an entertaining and fun read - likely, you'll feel as though Gary is talking you through a gunshot-speed introduction to some skillfully picked wines. It's geared towards the wine novice in its presentation of wine varietals and Gary's vocabulary of wine descriptors. More experienced oenophiles will find value in Gary's recommendations, some of which will surely surprise those that still doubt Gary's palate.
"101 Wines is an entertaining and fun read - likely, you'll feel as though Gary is taking you on a gunshot-ride introduction to some skillfully picked wines."
While the tone of 101 Wines is all-Gary, it's also a slightly toned-down Gary. If you enjoy the Love-it-or-Hate-it style of Gary's on-line video episodes, then you will likely enjoy his imaginative descriptors on the written page.
If you're not a fan of descriptors like "badass flowers" and comparing wine to the theoretical taste of purple paint, then this book will NOT turn you into a "Vayniac."
But if you haven't yet checked out of WLTV, and if you like a no-nonsense wine approach, you'll also probably enjoy this book.
In the book's introduction, Gary discusses his view on changing the world of wine. In a nutshell, that revolution in wine appreciation boils down to this: By eschewing snobbishness and empowering the palates of the masses, wine consumers will no longer be shackled by the reviews of a handful of people critics in traditional media dictating the prices and styles of today's wines. This wine 2.0 liberation will allow excellent wines that don't fit the current mold of securing high Parker scores to be appreciated by a wider audience of consumers.
In a way, Gary's popularity really is changing the wine world, and convincing a great number of people that wine, like beer, is damn fun. But as Spider-Man/Peter Parker's Uncle Ben once said, "with great power, comes great responsibility." As Gary rails against the industry impact of Robert Parker's points-based wine rating system, it's worth keeping in mind that Gary himself uses a Parker-esque 100-point scoring. As Gary's popularity continues to grow, securing him as the most influential wine reviewer outside of Parker (Robert, that is, not Peter!), won't this surely add to the issue of winmakers "chasing the points" to increase their bottle selling prices?
Only this time, they'll be chasing after the Vaynerchuk point?
Will Gary chose the Dark Side? Or will he deliver on the promise of his wine reviewer "Robin Hood" status?
Time will tell...
Cheers!
* Gary - got a bet for ya: If the Jets have a better record than the Steelers this season (yes, that's the most difficult 2008 schedule in the entire NFL Steelers), I will personally record a video spot to air on your show - wearing a Jets jersey, & introducing you as "the master of all wine AND football. " If the Steelers have a better record, then you can plug my blog on WLTV, mentioning me as "the guy who knows more about football than Gary Vaynerchuk." I'll also take a bottle of `04 Branson Coach...
Now, the gauntlet has been thrown so please don't go the route of Mary Ewing-Mulligan, who (to-date) has cowardly ignored my challenge to arm wrestle her for a bottle of `82 Mouton.
Here we go Steelers... HERE WE GO!
(images: opusseven.com, wikipedia.org, pictopia.com)
Book Review: Vino Italiano (The Regional Wines of Italy)
This post, the Dude is offering his review of Joseph Bastianich's & David Lynch's weighty tome on all things Italo-wine-related: Vino Italiano.
My review is part of a larger blog-carnival-type effort with near-simultaneous reviews of the same book happening at other wine blogs, called the Wine Book Club. You can check out some of the haps and conversation at the Shelfari book group. For more on the background of WBC, and a bit about the authors of Vino Italiano, check out my previous post on the subject.
The Low-Down
You'd think that a 500+ page book would warrant a lengthy review, but that's simply not the case here (thankfully!). This is mostly due to the well-considered layout of the book.
Vino Italiano is divided into three sections:
- A primer on Italian wine history & wine laws (essential information if you hope to understand an Italian wine label!)
- A tour of each of Italy's major wine regions in turn, starting with cultural interactions / story-telling, moving to well-written descriptions of the wine styles of the region, and ending with a recommended regional food & wine pairing
- Reference material, including a glossary of Italian wine terminology, and a wine producer directory.
How To Use This Book
Novices will find the first section particularly useful. When you're dealing with Italian wine, expect to be confused - there's simply no easy way to deal with it, so you might as well jump right in; this section will help make that jump as painless as possible.
Wine geeks like the Dude here will find the 3rd section the most interesting, if only for a handy reference to remind us what some of the Italian wine label terms mean, or digging up the detail on what is and isn't permitted in some of the regional quality classifications, etc.
Most people, however, will find the book's large midsection the most useful. That's because the authors of Vino Italiano know what the Italians know: the only way to truly appreciate Italy's regional wine treasures in full is to experience them as part of a larger picture - that picture including a unique blend of regional culture, history, and (most importantly) food.
The majority of Italian wines are meant to be consumed with their regional gustatory counterparts - the recipe and wine pairings (provided by Lidia Bastanich and household-name Mario Batali) at the end of each chapter are not after-thoughts - they are essential components if you want to "get" Italian wine. Personally, I've been hoping to try the Spagheti alla Luganica and Anglianico del Vulture pairing (see pgs. 330-331). If you don't get hungry at some point when reading Vino Italiano, then you're missing the point.
You needn't read the book cover-to-cover - the book is structured so that skipping around to read about a particular region will give you a perfectly good understanding of that region and its wines.
Buy It or Skip It?
Buy it. Vino Italiano is well-written (Dude majored in English Lit. in undergrad, so he does not offer that sort of praise lightly!), and its harmonious blend of regional Italian culture, food, and wine make it a winner. It's also a book that will provide benefit for a wine lover at nearly every stage of his/her wine knowledge development. This is one of the few instances where a book's many accolades (on the jacket, and in its on-line user reviews) are well-deserved.
Cheers, and happy reading!
