Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 338.476632 EAN: 9780520255210 ISBN: 0520255216 Label: University of California Press Manufacturer: University of California Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 208 Publication Date: July 14, 2008 Publisher: University of California Press Sales Rank: 44338 Studio: University of California Press
Product DescriptionAfter reading this intriguing book, a glass of wine will be more than hints of blackberries or truffles on the palate. Written by the author of the popular, award-winning website DrVino.com, Wine Politics exposes a little-known but extremely influential aspect of the wine business--the politics behind it. Tyler Colman systematically explains how politics affects what we can buy, how much it costs, how it tastes, what appears on labels, and more. He offers an insightful comparative view of wine-making in Napa and Bordeaux, tracing the different paths American and French wines take as they travel from vineyard to dining room table. Colman also explores globalization in the wine business and illuminates the role of behind-the-scenes players such as governments, distributors, and prominent critics who wield enormous clout. Throughout, Wine Politics reveals just how deeply politics matters-- right down to the taste of the wine in your glass tonight.
What Others Say
EYE OPENING
Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink is a must read for anyone who enjoys wine. It is a concise and precise explanation of how and why different drinks from different places end up at our tables. The most valuable insight one takes away from this informative book is that we can and should trust our own palates and preferences, and not concern ourselves with the mythology of wine, which as it turns out, is often self aggrandizing if not outright fraudulent. Distinguishing among categories of wine we learn the mass produced "factory" wines from Australia and elsewhere pretty much guarantee that one bottle will look, smell and taste like the next 5,000 bottles of that varietal, just as we learn that the "farmer" produced wines of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Oregon and parts ... Read More
A Must Read for Anybody that Weighs in on Wine from the Court of Public Opinion
Starting Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink and reading it cover to cover would get a wine novice up to speed and conversant across subject matter that is frequently difficult to penetrate. In addition, the author's writing is incredibly insightful, lucid and accessible.
My Top 10 List of things that are interesting about Wine Politics -
10) The author paraphrases the all time famous opening line to a book --Dickens' from a Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Doing so in HIS opening line is a wonderful, slightly funny, insider homage to Dickens and other writers.
9) On page 23, the author attributes the first successful commercial wine operation to John James Dufour in Vevay, Indiana. This ... Read More
No nonsense
Wine Politics is a book that tells us how wine is made. It is not about pruning, grape selection, fermentation methods or blending. It does take a tangent that is often set aside by most wine drinkers. The author explains and exemplifies, in a manner that makes it very clear that adjacent decisions to wine making are sometimes more influential on the styles of wines that we drink than the actual transformation of fruit into wine. It tells you about the conditions on which farmers and winemakers have to conform to practice their craft. Its approach is sober and it does not rely on a fatalistic or demagogic rhetoric as it portrays the matter of winemaking and its history in a holistic manner. It pictures the cause and effect of political, economical ... Read More
To know what's in the bottle you buy
On my list of "summer readings", there was Wine Politics. How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and critics Influence the Wines We Drink by Tyler Colman. Quite a program! And a surprising one! I knew DrVino blog and enjoy reading it. I never commented - being a little shy but always liked the spirited and hot posts and debates. I knew Dr Vino was an academic and a fellow teacher as well as a fellow doctor since he holds a Ph.D.
Because of all those similitudes I read with a lot of interest his opus and especially enjoyed the picture of the author with the Paris Notre-Dame cathedral in the background! Tyler Colman is an expert on French and American wines, laws and marketing strategies. His constant parallel between the two worlds ... Read More
Appreciating wine more by understanding its politics
It is said that to really appreciate wine, one must understand its context. When some talk of "context", they often focus on what is in the bottle, such as a wine's varietal makeup, the vineyard from which its fruit was sourced, and/or the vintage which serves to describe the growing season. Even still, there are some who extend context further to include the historical and cultural influences shaping a wine, specifically those factors that have served to guide viticulturists and enologists in a singular fashion within a particular region.
Tyler Colman has now broadened this notion of context with Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, a book that should appeal to anyone seeking ... Read More
