Wine is much more than just another beverage - it evokes passion and emotion, curiosity and fascination. This second annual edition of Every Wine Tells a Story is brimming with entertaining personal anecdotes from a host of new wine lovers, and one or two familiar faces. Join this eclectic group of wine experts from around the world, including sommeliers, winemakers, journalists, bloggers and merchants, as they share tales of the one wine they found most impressive. Let these international connoisseurs inspire and encourage, enlighten and enthuse, inform and intrigue you to delve further into the exciting, ever-changing world of wine. Discover a unique range of handpicked wines, unlike any list you've seen before. This refreshing collection of personal wine experiences is sure to amuse and entertain and leave you thirsty for more!

Writing with wit and verve, Mike Veseth (a.k.a. the Wine Economist) tells the compelling story of the war between the market trends that are redrawing the world wine map and the terroirists who resist them. Wine and the wine business are at a critical crossroad today, transformed by three powerful forces. Veseth begins with the first force, globalization, which is shifting the center of the wine world as global wine markets provide enthusiasts with a rich but overwhelming array of choices. Two Buck Chuck, the second force, symbolizes the rise of branded products like the famous Charles Shaw wines sold in Trader Joe's stores. Branded corporate wines simplify the worldwide wine market and give buyers the confidence they need to make choices, but they also threaten to dumb down wine, sacrificing terroir to achieve marketable McWine reliability. Will globalization and Two Buck Chuck destroy the essence of wine? Perhaps, but not without a fight, Veseth argues. He counts on "the revenge of the terroirists" to save wine's soul. But it won't be easy as wine expands to exotic new markets such as China and the very idea of terroir is attacked by both critics and global climate change. Veseth has "grape expectations" that globalization, Two Buck Chuck, and the revenge of the terroirists will uncork a favorable future for wine in an engaging tour-de-force that will appeal to all lovers of wine, whether it be boxed, bagged, or bottled.

"A fascinating book that belongs on every wine lover’s bookshelf."—The Wine Economist "It’s a book to read for its unstoppable torrent of fascinating and often surprising details."—Andrew Jefford, Decanter For centuries, wine has been associated with France more than with any other country. France remains one of the world’s leading wine producers by volume and enjoys unrivaled cultural recognition for its wine. If any wine regions are global household names, they are French regions such as Champagne, Bordeaux, and Burgundy. Within the wine world, products from French regions are still benchmarks for many wines. French Wine is the first synthetic history of wine in France: from Etruscan, Greek, and Roman imports and the adoption of wine by beer-drinking Gauls to its present status within the global marketplace. Rod Phillips places the history of grape growing and winemaking in each of the country’s major regions within broad historical and cultural contexts. Examining a range of influences on the wine industry, wine trade, and wine itself, the book explores religion, economics, politics, revolution, and war, as well as climate and vine diseases. French Wine is the essential reference on French wine for collectors, consumers, sommeliers, and industry professionals.

Italy’s Native Wine Grape Terroirs is the definitive reference book on the myriad crus and the grand cru wine production areas of Italy’s native wine grapes. Ian D’Agata’s approach to discussing wine, both scientific and discursive, provides an easy-to-read, enjoyable guide to Italy’s best terroirs. Descriptions are enriched with geologic data, biotype and clonal information, producer anecdotes and interviews, and facts and figures compiled over fifteen years of research devoted to wine terroirs. In-depth analysis is provided for the terroirs that produce both the well-known wines (Barolo, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino) and those not as well-known (Grignolino d’Asti, Friuli Colli Orientali Picolit, Ischia). Everyday wine lovers, beginners, and professionals alike will find this new book to be the perfect complement to D’Agata’s previous award-winning Native Wine Grapes of Italy.

Through a combination of original research, imaginative writing, and beautiful illustrations, James Gabler has captured an intimate portrait of Thomas Jefferson at leisure, enjoying two of his passions--wine and travel. Jefferson was the most knowledgeable wine connoisseur of his age, and his favorite wines remain favorites of wine lovers today. He also loved to travel "to see what I have not yet seen." You will travel with Jefferson to the vineyards of Burgundy, Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Bordeaux, Provence, over the Alps into Italy, along the French and Italian Rivieras, through Lanquedoc on the Canal-du-Midi, down the Rhine with tastings at famous German vineyards. You will visit the great Roman antiquities of Gaul: Glanum, Pont du Gard, Masion Carree, Theatre at Orange, Amphitheatres in Nimes and Arles. You will eavesdrop on dinner conversations at his Paris residence on the Champs-Elysees, the White House and Monticello where the finest wines were served. You will be with him in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Strasbourg, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. You will accompany John Adams and Jefferson into the English countryside to see the great landscape gardens. You will bear witness to the unfolding of the French Revolution through Jefferson's eyes. You will sail Lakes George and Champlain and visit the battlegrounds at Saratoga, Fort Ticonderoga and Bennington with Jefferson and James Madison. Wine was a lifelong passion; Jefferson called it "a necessary of life. His wine interests, however, went far beyond just drinking it. He was interested in its viticulture, making notes on German and Italian grape growing and examining "the details relative to the most celebrated wines of France." He planted vineyards at Monticello and experimented with grape growing in his Paris garden with vine cuttings from such famous vineyards as Montrachet, Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Hochheim and Rudesheim. He encouraged Philip Mazzei and John Adlum and others in their vineyard efforts and accurately predicted that America would, some day, make wines as good as those of France. He was a wine advisor to Presidents Washington, Madison, and Monroe. Throughout his life Jefferson was an advocate of the virtues of wine, arguing that "No nation is drunken where wine is cheap, and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage." His wine advice to merchants and friends opened channels for the importation of wine into the United States from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. To encourage the importation of wine, he effectively lobbied Congress for a reduction in taxes while serving as Secretary of State, President and later in retirement. At a White House dinner in 1962, President Kennedy told a group of Nobel prize winners that "this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge that has ever gathered together in the White House with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." But as you will learn, Jefferson, while President, rarely dined alone. Dinner conversations spanned the range of human knowledge with an emphasis on his passions-- architecture, music, wine, food, books, literature, gardening, and his years in France. James Gabler spent seven years researching and writing Jefferson's interests in wine and travel and has uncovered facts that have never before been revealed. He followed Jefferson's footsteps across Europe and the United States which has allowed him to update what Jefferson saw and drank. Here then is the definitive account of the wines and travels of one of the most extraordinary men in history."

A delightfully informative guide to two of the world’s most rewarding pleasures—fine wine and great literature—that make for an irresistible pairing. Nothing in the world is more satisfying to the soul than a glass of excellent cabernet sauvignon, pinot grigio, bordeaux, or any number of fine varietals—unless it’s curling up by the fire with a truly exceptional novel, history, or collection of short fiction. Now Patrick Alexander, wine aficionado and author of The Illustrated Proust, combines these unparalleled pleasures in a unique guidebook to delight connoisseurs of both Gatsby and the grape. In The Booklovers’ Guide to Wine, Alexander shares his passion for the culture and history of wine and his love of great authors and their enduring works. Eschewing the traditional pairings of food and drink, he explores instead the most pleasing combinations of reds, whites, and rosés with their most compatible writers—be it Shakespeare with sherry, Jane Austin with chardonnay, or J.R.R. Tolkien with albariño. In addition, he examines the most interesting and thought-provoking wine references in literature while providing an intriguing history of the beloved beverage from biblical times to the latest trends. Chock-full of intriguing facts, expert opinions, and entertaining anecdotes, The Booklovers’ Guide to Wine is a book to be savored by anyone who appreciates the complexity of a full-bodied shiraz or the unmistakable flavor of a great author.

The head of Italy’s "first family" of winemaking reflects on the Antinoris’ six-hundred-year legacy and a life of good food and drink in the hills of Tuscany. If you know wine, you know the name Antinori. Since 1385, this noble Florentine family has produced some of Italy’s finest wines. The Hills of Chianti tells the story of the Antinoris and the Tuscany they call home, through seven iconic bottles that define their legacy. From the Tignanello that ushered in the era of Super Tuscans to limited-edition vintages, these wines embody a way of life and will excite oenophile readers and lovers of Italy alike. In this family memoir Piero Antinori reveals the passion, tradition, and love of craft that have driven twenty-seven generations of vintners: from the first ancestor who signed up to the winemakers guild in the fourteenth century to Antinori’s own three daughters, poised to carry this most celebrated family of artisans into the future. But The Hills of Chianti is about much more than wine. At its heart the Antinori story is about "Tuscan-ness": a connection to the land, an appreciation for good food and drink, and the quintessentially Italian love of hospitality that make this one of the world’s most inspiring and memorable destinations.