Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo were pioneers in the Texas wine industry. They founded Messina Hof which reflected their union of love as well as the origins of their heritages from Messina, Sicily and Hof, Germany. This book shares their amazing Texas wine journey, reveals their marketing strategies and the elements that have made Messina Hof so successful. It provides insights into their business development and how they were successful in keeping their love story so vibrant. This is the perfect book for those in a family business. There are many lessons learned and shared. This book is inspirational and it traces a history of Texas from its inception as a Pet Rock Industry to its modern day world class status.

New York Times best-selling author, Kate Summers, is facing a divorce in her 40's and up against a hard deadline for her next novel. She rents an Airstream on the Texas Wine Trail to find inspiration, but discovers much more... She meets Zach, a medical doctor from the Northeast scouting for a winery to invest in. They decide to spend a week enjoying tastings, but just as they are getting to know one another, he has to return suddenly back home. The holidays are hard for Kate, as she lost her mother two years ago. This Cactus Christmas is prickly and sweet as Kate must heal her heart, try to reconnect with her estranged sister, Lillie, and find her way on her own. Will she finish her book? Will she meet Zach again? Will timing ever be right? A delicious story of finding yourself (again), second chances at love, and taking huge risks that payoff.

"Thoughtfully conceived and very well written, this is essential somm reading."—The Somm Journal "This is the most important wine book of the year, perhaps in many years."—The Seattle Times "Crisply written, impeccably researched, balanced if fundamentally enthusiastic, scholarly but accessible, and full of unexpected details and characters."—The World of Fine Wine No wine category has seen more dramatic growth in recent years than American Rhône–variety wines. Winemakers are devoting more energy, more acreage, and more bottlings to Rhône varieties than ever before. The flagship Rhône red, Syrah, is routinely touted as one of California’s most promising varieties, capable of tremendous adaptability as a vine, wonderfully variable in style, and highly expressive of place. There has never been a better time for American Rhône wine producers. American Rhône is the untold history of the American Rhône wine movement. The popularity of these wines has been hard fought; this is a story of fringe players, unknown varieties, and longshot efforts finding their way to the mainstream. It’s the story of winemakers gathering sufficient strength in numbers to forge a triumph of the obscure and the brash. But, more than this, it is the story of the maturation of the American palate and a new republic of wine lovers whose restless tastes and curiosity led them to Rhône wines just as those wines were reaching a critical mass in the marketplace. Patrick J. Comiskey’s history of the American Rhône wine movement is both a compelling underdog success story and an essential reference for the wine professional.

An extensively updated new edition of the classic guide to the wines of the world—and how they are made Wine from Grape to Glass is the essential guidebook for wine lovers who want to understand how their favorite wines are grown, how they are produced, and how best to savor them. The first half of the book is devoted to the process of winemaking and wine appreciation. The mysteries of the vineyard and terroir, the grape harvest, fermentation, and aging are all explained in full, as are the intricacies of serving, tasting, and storing wine. The second half of the book examines the best wines of the world, country by country, in a level of detail that is satisfying without being overwhelming. More than one thousand color illustrations, including numerous maps, make this a visual as well as a textual guide. This fourth edition of Wine from Grape to Glass is revised and updated throughout. It includes new sections on recent trends in winemaking—including rosés and natural wines—and expanded coverage of many winemaking regions, including Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South America, China, and Japan.

Find out more about natural wine—made naturally from organically or biodynamically grown grapes—from leading authority Isabelle Legeron MW. Find out more about natural wine—made naturally from organically or biodynamically grown grapes—from leading authority Isabelle Legeron MW Wine-making has become ever-more unnatural, from the use of blanket crop-spraying in vineyards, to the over-use of sulfites and additives in the cellar, but luckily there is another way, as Master of Wine Isabelle Legeron explains. Isabelle, who campaigns for natural wine around the world and runs the hugely successful RAW wine fairs in New York, London, and Berlin, reveals why the finest, most authentic wines are those made naturally. While currently not regulated by an official definition, natural wines are made from sustainably farmed, organic (or biodynamic) grapes, with nothing removed or added during winemaking, bar at most a dash of sulfites. It is good old-fashioned grape juice fermented into wine—just as nature intended. If you care about what’s in your glass, want to explore unique flavors, or are keen to support small-scale producers, then you need to know more about natural wine, and where to find it. The second edition of this consumer guide to natural wine has been fully updated, and explains the processes involved, introduces you to some of the growers, and suggests over 140 of the best wines for you to try. “A joyous celebration of all that Legeron believes is good and pure in the world of wine and wine production.” TLS Shortlisted for the André Simon Food & Drink Awards 2015. the Fortnum and Mason Food & Drink Awards 2014, and the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers Awards 2015.

In this delightful book Rhonda Cloos explores connections between the wine, food, and people of the Lone Star state. With recipes from wineries, Texas chefs, plus pairing guides, we get a lesson on what to serve with Texas wines.

The story of the exiled Queen of Naples, Maria Sophia, as the title page of this little volume sets forth, is the story of a "forgotten heroine." In many respects, it recalls the story of her sister, Elizabeth of Hungary, though her fate was not so tragic. She was saved from the fury of the assassin; but she revealed many of her sister's attributes—the same courage, the same beauty, the same gayety of disposition, clouded in much the same manner, the same love of nature and of animals, the same love of the people, and the same domestic misfortunes.