The Search For Good Wine

One hundred amusing, practical essays on how to enjoy and afford good wines by the author of Thomas Jefferson on Wine

The Search for Good Wine is a highly entertaining and informative book on all aspects of wine and its consumption by nationally-syndicated wine columnist John Hailman, author of the critically-acclaimed Thomas Jefferson on Wine (2006). Hailman explores the wine-drinking experiences and tastes of famous wine-lovers from jolly Ben Franklin and the surprisingly enthusiastic George Washington to Julius Caesar, Sherlock Holmes, and Ernest Hemingway among numerous other famous figures. Hailman also recounts in fascinating detail the exotic life of the founder of the California wine industry, Hungarian Agoston Haraszthy, who introduced Zinfandel to the U.S. Hailman gives calm and reliable guidance on how to deal with snobby wine waiters and how to choose the best wine books and travel guides. He simplifies the ABCs of wine-grape types from the delicate pinot noirs of Oregon to the robust malbecs of Argentina and from the vibrant new whites of Spain to the great reds (old and new) of Italy. The entire book is dedicated to finding values in wine. As Hailman says, “Everyone always wants to know one basic thing: How can you get the best possible wine for the lowest possible price?” His new book is highly practical and effective in answering that eternal question and many more about wine. A judge at the top international wine competitions for over thirty years, Hailman examines those experiences and the value of “blind” tastings. He gives insightful tips on how to select a good wine store, how to decipher wine labels and wine lists, and even how to extract unruly champagne corks without crippling yourself or others. Hailman simplifies wine jargon and effectively demystifies the culture of wine fascination, restoring the consumption of wine to the natural pleasure it really should be.

Stone age wine -- The Noah hypothesis -- The archaeological and chemical hunt for the earliest wine -- Neolithic wine! -- Wine of the earliest pharaohs -- Wine of Egypt's golden age -- Wine of the world's first cities -- Wine and the great empires of the ancient Near East -- The Holy Land's bounty -- Lands of Dionysos : Greece and western Anatolia -- A beverage for King Midas and at the limits of the civilized world -- Molecular archaeology, wine, and a view to the future.

A connoisseur's compendium of a great American's passion for fine wine

A paean to authentic wines and a New York Times Best Wine Book of the Year from the James Beard Award-winning author of Reading Between the Wines. What makes a wine worth drinking? As celebrated wine writer Terry Theise explains in this gem of a book, answering that seemingly simple question requires us to look beyond what’s in our glass to consider much bigger questions about beauty, harmony, soulfulness, and the values we hold dear. Most of all, Theise shows, what makes a wine worth drinking is its authenticity. When we choose small-scale, family-produced wine over the industrially produced stuff, or when we opt for subtle, companionable wines over noisy, vulgar ones, we not only experience their origins with the greatest possible clarity and detail—we also gain a new perspective on ourselves and the world we inhabit. In this way, artisanal wine is not only the key to good drinking; it is also the key to a good life. An unforgettable literary journey into the heart and soul of wine, What Makes a Wine Worth Drinking is a gift to be cherished from a writer “whose id is directly connected to his mouth” (Eric Asimov, The New York Times). Winner of the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards Chairman’s Award A “Best Wine Gift” by WineSpeed “Grown-up wine writing, full of emotion . . . and, in these dangerously cynical times, exactly what we wine enthusiasts—we human beings—need.”—The World of Fine Wine “Theise’s fans, as well as those just meeting him for the first time, will revel as he leads us on an existential tour of wine.”—Dave McIntyre, The Washington Post

For many, wine can be an overly complex, intimidating and – dare we say it – mysterious topic. And while it’s true that there are things about wine that can be overwhelming for beginners, Find Your Wine skips such topics in favor of a simple flavor-related focus that puts the reader’s personal preferences at the forefront, enabling them to buy and talk about wine, discover what they like, and much more, without depending on an understanding of Old World vs. New World, the merits of one region over another, and other dense criteria. The book might suggest, for example, “Do you like Merlot? Great. You’ll love Bordeaux.” But then it will go on to explain why that is. By organizing the book by flavor profile (i.e. Bold, Crisp, Smooth, Buttery, Fruity, Bright, Sweet, Jammy, etc.), readers will establish a point of reference that informs every decision they make about what wine to drink when. They’ll learn how to describe what they’re looking for and the kinds of wines they like at a wine shop or to a server. Or if they’re on their own, they’ll know how to pick something for a dinner or date that’s certain to be a crowd pleaser. They’ll also learn how to explore new wines with confidence, by first working off of the flavors they know they like.

In The Wine Lover’s Daughter, Anne Fadiman examines—with all her characteristic wit and feeling—her relationship with her father, Clifton Fadiman, a renowned literary critic, editor, and radio host whose greatest love was wine. An appreciation of wine—along with a plummy upper-crust accent, expensive suits, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Western literature—was an essential element of Clifton Fadiman’s escape from lower-middle-class Brooklyn to swanky Manhattan. But wine was not just a class-vaulting accessory; it was an object of ardent desire. The Wine Lover’s Daughter traces the arc of a man’s infatuation from the glass of cheap Graves he drank in Paris in 1927; through the Château Lafite-Rothschild 1904 he drank to celebrate his eightieth birthday, when he and the bottle were exactly the same age; to the wines that sustained him in his last years, when he was blind but still buoyed, as always, by hedonism. Wine is the spine of this touching memoir; the life and character of Fadiman’s father, along with her relationship with him and her own less ardent relationship with wine, are the flesh. The Wine Lover’s Daughter is a poignant exploration of love, ambition, class, family, and the pleasures of the palate by one of our finest essayists.