Follow the link under the "Bio" heading for a biography of
an author.
* Co-edited with Jancis Robinson.
Canadian Reading
Here are some Canadian publications worth acquiring:
- Tony Aspler
Canadian
Wine for Dummies
- Tony
Aspler
The Wine
Atlas of Canada
- Richard Best
Lexicon
of Wine Tasting
- Geoff Heinricks
A
Fool and Forty Acres
- R. Kitowski / J Klemm Clueless
About Wine
- Natalie MacLean
Red,
White and Drunk All Over
- Rod Phillips
Ontario
Wine Country
- John Schreiner
The
Wines of Canada
- Vines Magazine
Buyers
Guide To Canadian Wine
Wild Cards & Movies
If you are in the market for gifts, I list three books and three DVDs as
possibilities below. For some more off-beat book titles, try Sterling
Epicure.

Benjamin Wallace: The Billionaire's Vinegar
The Billionaire's Vinegar tells the story of a Bordeaux 1st growth that
supposedly was acquired in the 1780's by Thomas Jefferson, the USA's
founding father, who was living in Paris at the time, and then
"discovered" some two hundred years later and sold at auction
for a record price in 1985. The book leads the reader into the rarified
atmosphere of high end wine collecting and the potential for
counterfeiting. As a result of a successful legal suit, this book is
now unavailable in the UK.

Ralph Steadman: Untrodden Grapes. Steadman is an English
graphic artist with a wicked sense of wit. He used to feature
regularly in Private Eye, the English satirical magazine, and he has done
work for Hunter S. Thompson (books), Pink Floyd (album covers), and
illustrated a number of wine bottles. This book features
commentary and sketches of the people and places he's visited in his
pursuit of great wine.
The
Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of
American Taste, by Elin McCoy.
Robert Parker is commonly
regarded as the USA's leading wine authority. His ratings are extremely
influential and are quoted world wide. His supporters claim that he is
responsible for improving winemaking standards. His critics fear
that his influence leads to a homogeneous approach in wine making.
Read the book and make your own decision.
Mondovino
by Jonathan Nossiter - DVD (2004)
Mondovino takes a hard look at the world wine business, and the tension
between the internationalists with their globalized approach and the craft
wine makers. Nossiter's movie has been characterized as the
Fahrenheit 9/11 of the wine world in so far as he takes potshots at well
known figures including Robert Parker, the wine critic, Michel Rolland,
the "flying wine maker" and Wine Spectator's James
Suckling.
Sideways
by Alexander Payne - DVD (2004)
A wine tasting road trip
to salute Jack’s (Thomas Haden Church) final days as a bachelor careens
woefully sideways as he and Miles (Paul Giamatti) hit the gas en route to
mid-life crises. The comically mismatched pair, who share little more than
their history and a heady blend of failed potential and fading youth, soon
find themselves drowning in wine and women (Sandra Oh and Virginia
Madsen). Emerging from a haze of pinot noir, wistful yearnings and
trepidation about the future, the two inevitably collide with
reality.
This movie was the
sleeper of the year in 2004 and was up for several Oscars. It is
essential viewing for any wine lover.
Bottle
Shock by Randall Miller - DVD (2008)
A
wine competition which came to be known as the “Judgment of
Paris” was organized in Paris on May 24, 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a
British wine merchant, in which French judges carried out a blind tasting
of top-quality chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon wines from France and
from California. France was
generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best
wines at this time so it was assumed that the French wines would win hands
down. However to the surprise
of onlookers and the horror of the French wine industry, a California wine
rated best in each category.
Although
Spurrier had invited many reporters to the original 1976 tasting, the only
reporter to attend was George M. Taber from TIME magazine, who
promptly revealed the results to the world.
The horrified and enraged leaders of the French wine industry then
banned Spurrier from the nation's prestige wine-tasting tour for a year,
apparently as punishment for the damage his tasting had done to its former
image of superiority. The
tasting was initially ignored by the French press.
However after nearly three months, Le Figaro published an
article describing the results as "laughable," and said they
"cannot be taken seriously." Six
months after the tasting, Le Monde wrote a similar article.
The
“Judgment of Paris” resulted in a considerable increase in the
prestige of wine made in the New World and led to substantial increases in
production. It also resulted
in some considerable soul searching by the French and a thorough review of
their wine making traditions. Bottle
Shock dramatizes the 1976 wine tasting and debuted at the 2008
Sundance Film Festival.
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