Download or read book The Curious World of Wine written by Richard Vine and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-11-06 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Curious World of Wine is a fascinating miscellany about the colorful characters, celebrated places, and quirky events surrounding wine-making. Recounting wine tales that are by turns amusing, surprising, and occasionally a bit naughty, wine expert Richard Vine reveals little-known facts such as: • The oldest vineyard still producing grapes is thought to be in Maribor, Slovenia, where vines up to four hundred years old remain fruitful. • “Plonk,” a term used to insult any modestly priced wine, got its name from the French words for white wine—vin blanc, pronounced “vawn blawnk,” which was corrupted to “plawnk” or “plonk.” • Thomas Jefferson was so eager to plant native French vines at his Monticello mansion that he nearly went bankrupt fruitlessly hiring experts to defeat a condition that caused European vines to mysteriously die in North American soil. • Touching wineglasses as a toast was originally a deft move to exchange a splash of wine into each other’s cup to ensure that neither party was being poisoned. The Curious World of Wine will keep any wine fan entertained and enlightened—from the most erudite connoisseur to Two Buck Chuck devotees.
Download or read book The Curious World of Wine written by Richard Vine and published by TarcherPerigee. This book was released on 2012 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents facts and trivia about the history of wine and winemaking, featuring details on the world's famous wine regions, profiles of notable wine makers and critics, and anecdotes on wine culture.
Download or read book Curious Wine written by Katherine V. Forrest and published by Bella Books. This book was released on 2011-04-19 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The intimacy of a cabin at Lake Tahoe provides the combustible circumstances that bring Diana Holland and Lane Christianson together in this passionate novel of first discovery. Originally published by Naiad Press in 1983, Bella Books is proud to bring the bestselling romantic lesbian novel of all time back to print. With multiple printings and translations worldwide,Curious Wine is an enduring classic and on everyone's list of the very best in our literature.
Download or read book Wine Folly written by Madeline Puckette and published by Avery. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A hip, new guide to wine for the new generation of wine drinkers, from the sommelier creators of the award-wining site WineFolly.com"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book The New York Times Book of Wine written by Howard G. Goldberg and published by Union Square & Co.. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The best on wine from the New York Times! The newspaper of record has always showcased the writing of some of the worlds most respected wine experts, and these 125 articles from its archives feature such esteemed names as Eric Asimov, Frank Prial, Florence Fabricant, and R. W. Apple Jr. They cover everything from corkscrews and winespeak to pairing wine with food, wines from the Continent and South of the Border, and restaurant experiences. This is the ideal gift book for wine lovers.
Download or read book Marilyn Merlot and the Naked Grape written by Peter F. May and published by Quirk Books. This book was released on 2006-04-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Peculiar Collection of Uncommon Wines Within these pages are more than 100 of the oddest wines ever produced. Some have unusual names, like Fat Bastard Chardonnay and Lazy Lizard Shiraz. Others feature curious artwork of singing frogs and UFO invasions. Still others boast unique production features, such as Braille typography, heat-sensitive ink, and lenticular art. Along with full-color reproductions of the original labels, author Peter F. May shares stories about the origins of the wines and provides helpful tasting notes. Readers will learn about unusual vineyards (like Cleavage Creek, which donates its proceeds to breast cancer research) as well as the most innovative artists working in the wine label medium. Finally, there’s an appendix of resources that will help you locate these wines—so you can savor them yourself.
Download or read book The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends written by Ingo Niermann and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-08-26 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wacky but well-researched, unbiased and shameless, this informational book about drugs dares to take readers on a long, strange trivia trip. Following in the tradition of The Ultimate Book of Useless Information, The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends is a wry potpourri of interesting information about every conceivable kind of drug. Readers can feed their heads with anecdotes, facts, lists, statistics, and illustrations, including: • The test results of animals on LSD—cats lose their fear of dogs, and goats walk in geometric patterns • Drugs found in nature, from magic mushrooms to St. John’s wort to beaver secretions • Celebrities who overdosed at age 27—Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, and Jean Michel-Basquiat • Imaginary drugs in literature and film, from spice the mélange in Dune to Moloko plus in A Clockwork Orange • Nicknames for a joint—from doobie to giggly stick to Mr. Boom Bizzle • The global percentages of adults who have used cannabis—.004 percent in Singapore and 12.6 percent in the United States • The uses of opium in ancient Rome—from treatments for insomnia and epilepsy to colic and deafness • The most glamorous rehab clinics and their celebrity alumni • Mini-biographies of the biggest drug kingpins around the world
Download or read book Godforsaken Grapes written by Jason Wilson and published by ABRAMS. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are nearly 1,400 known varieties of wine grapes in the world—from altesse to zierfandler—but 80 percent of the wine we drink is made from only 20 grapes. In Godforsaken Grapes, Jason Wilson looks at how that came to be and embarks on a journey to discover what we miss. Stemming from his own growing obsession, Wilson moves far beyond the “noble grapes,” hunting down obscure and underappreciated wines from Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, France, Italy, the United States, and beyond. In the process, he looks at why these wines fell out of favor (or never gained it in the first place), what it means to be obscure, and how geopolitics, economics, and fashion have changed what we drink. A combination of travel memoir and epicurean adventure, Godforsaken Grapes is an entertaining love letter to wine.
Download or read book Inventing Wine written by Paul Lukacs and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-12-03 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lukacs chronicles wine's transformation from a source of sustenance to a consciously pursued pleasure, in the process offering a new way to view the present as well as the past.
Download or read book Wine from Sky to Earth written by Nicolas Joly and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From France's greatest winegrower-a chemical free, organic, wine-rich in the vital force of life. Nicholas Joly's Loire Valley vineyard produces what has been called France's-or even the world's-best white wine. He grows and produces these wines without using any pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers in growing the grapes or using chemical additives during the winemaking process. He creates his beautiful wine by understanding and working with the subtle forces of nature. This practice founded by visionary Rudolf Steiner is called biodynamics and Nicholas Joly is one of the world's most respected practitioners and teachers. Sophisticated wine lovers, winegrowers, and new age horticulturists will enjoy this beautiful, poetic book about the earth, our food, and our lives. The striking photos of Mr. Joly's vineyard, planted by the Cisterian monks in 1130 and continuously cultivated, will inspire all to learn more about the Loire Valley, Joly's methods, and wine in general."
Download or read book A Natural History of Wine written by Ian Tattersall and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-28 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Wine is art. Wine is ritual. Wine is culture. Wine is romance. But in the hands of Tattersall and DeSalle . . . we learn that wine is also science.”—Neil deGrasse Tyson A Wall Street Journal Best Book for Wine Lovers An excellent bottle of wine can be the spark that inspires a brainstorming session. Such was the case for Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle, scientists who frequently collaborate on book and museum exhibition projects. When the conversation turned to wine one evening, it almost inevitably led the two—one a palaeoanthropologist, the other a molecular biologist—to begin exploring the many intersections between science and wine. This book presents their fascinating, freewheeling answers to the question “What can science tell us about wine?” And vice versa. Conversational and accessible to everyone, this colorfully illustrated book embraces almost every imaginable area of the sciences, from microbiology and ecology (for an understanding of what creates this complex beverage) to physiology and neurobiology (for insight into the effects of wine on the mind and body). The authors draw on physics, chemistry, biochemistry, evolution, and climatology, and they expand the discussion to include insights from anthropology, primatology, entomology, Neolithic archaeology, and even classical history. The resulting volume is indispensable for anyone who wishes to appreciate wine to its fullest. “Chemistry. Evolutionary biology. Genetics. This book is an excellent layman’s refresher on these diverse topics, and many more, and how they fit into the grand scheme of wine . . . A fact-packed and accessible read that goes a long way toward explaining why and how wine became such an important component in our enjoyment of the natural world.”—Wine Spectator
Download or read book The Curious World of Christmas written by Niall Edworthy and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-10-07 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a compilation of Christmas trivia, discussing the origin of such traditions as the Christmas tree, decorations, caroling, and Santa Claus, the types of food and drink that have been served on the holiday, and famous Christmas news stories from the past.
Download or read book Wine Folly Magnum Edition written by Madeline Puckette and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER The expanded wine guide from the creators of Wine Folly, packed with new information for devotees and newbies alike. Wine Folly became a sensation for its inventive, easy-to-digest approach to learning about wine. Now in a new, expanded hardcover edition, Wine Folly: Magnum Edition is the perfect guide for anyone looking to take his or her wine knowledge to the next level. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition includes: more than 100 grapes and wines color-coded by style so you can easily find new wines you'll love; a wine region explorer with detailed maps of the top wine regions, as well as up-and-coming areas such as Greece and Hungary; wine labeling and classification 101 for wine countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Austria; an expanded food and wine pairing section; a primer on acidity and tannin--so you can taste wine like a pro; more essential tips to help you cut through the complexity of the wine world and become an expert. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition is the must-have book for the millions of fans of Wine Folly and for any budding oenophile who wants to boost his or her wine knowledge in a practical and fun way. It's the ultimate gift for any wine lover.
Download or read book Windows on the World Complete Wine Course written by Kevin Zraly and published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. This book was released on 2009 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at how and where wine is made and how this affects its quality and pricing, including information on how the professionals taste and rate wine and a country-by-country tour of the latest vintages.
Download or read book Imperial Wine written by Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2024-04-23 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating and approachable deep dive into the colonial roots of the global wine industry. Imperial Wine is a bold, rigorous history of Britain's surprising role in creating the wine industries of Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Here, historian Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre bridges the genres of global commodity history and imperial history, presenting provocative new research in an accessible narrative. This is the first book to argue that today's global wine industry exists as a result of settler colonialism and that imperialism was central, not incidental, to viticulture in the British colonies. Wineries were established almost immediately after the colonization of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand as part of a civilizing mission: tidy vines, heavy with fruit, were symbolic of Britain's subordination of foreign lands. Economically and culturally, nineteenth-century settler winemakers saw the British market as paramount. However, British drinkers were apathetic towards what they pejoratively called "colonial wine." The tables only began to turn after the First World War, when colonial wines were marketed as cheap and patriotic and started to find their niche among middle- and working-class British drinkers. This trend, combined with social and cultural shifts after the Second World War, laid the foundation for the New World revolution in the 1980s, making Britain into a confirmed country of wine-drinkers and a massive market for New World wines. These New World producers may have only received critical acclaim in the late twentieth century, but Imperial Wine shows that they had spent centuries wooing, and indeed manufacturing, a British market for inexpensive colonial wines. This book is sure to satisfy any curious reader who savors the complex stories behind this commodity chain.
Download or read book Shadows in the Vineyard written by Maximillian Potter and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amazon Best Book of the Month, July 2014 Journalist Maximillian Potter uncovers a fascinating plot to destroy the vines of La Romanée-Conti, Burgundy's finest and most expensive wine. In January 2010, Aubert de Villaine, the famed proprietor of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the tiny, storied vineyard that produces the most expensive, exquisite wines in the world, received an anonymous note threatening the destruction of his priceless vines by poison-a crime that in the world of high-end wine is akin to murder-unless he paid a one million euro ransom. Villaine believed it to be a sick joke, but that proved a fatal miscalculation and the crime shocked this fabled region of France. The sinister story that Vanity Fair journalist Maximillian Potter uncovered would lead to a sting operation by some of France's top detectives, the primary suspect's suicide, and a dramatic investigation. This botanical crime threatened to destroy the fiercely traditional culture surrounding the world's greatest wine. SHADOWS IN THE VINEYARD takes us deep into a captivating world full of fascinating characters, small-town French politics, an unforgettable narrative, and a local culture defined by the twinned veins of excess and vitality and the deep reverent attention to the land that runs through it.
Download or read book Cork Dork written by Bianca Bosker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-03-28 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND A NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS' PICK “Thrilling . . . [told] with gonzo élan . . . When the sommelier and blogger Madeline Puckette writes that this book is the Kitchen Confidential of the wine world, she’s not wrong, though Bill Buford’s Heat is probably a shade closer.” —Jennifer Senior, The New York Times Professional journalist and amateur drinker Bianca Bosker didn’t know much about wine—until she discovered an alternate universe where taste reigns supreme, a world of elite sommeliers who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of flavor. Astounded by their fervor and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, she set out to uncover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a “cork dork.” With boundless curiosity, humor, and a healthy dose of skepticism, Bosker takes the reader inside underground tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, California mass-market wine factories, and even a neuroscientist’s fMRI machine as she attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what’s the big deal about wine? What she learns will change the way you drink wine—and, perhaps, the way you live—forever. “Think: Eat, Pray, Love meets Somm.” —theSkimm “As informative as it is, well, intoxicating.” —Fortune
