Pinot Noir is a uniquely challenging grape with an unrivalled ability to reflect the character of the site where it grows. Winemakers all over the world have set out in search of the Holy Grail: to repeat Burgundy's success with Pinot Noir. "In Search of Pinot Noir" investigates the changing character of Burgundy, asks what happens to Pinot Noir outside of Burgundy, and examines how the wines of each region age.

A portrait of the most fashionable grape in the wine world, pairing vivid narrative and stunning photography to showcase top Pinot producers in California and Oregon.

The national bestseller that turns you into “an expert at pairing wine with just about anything, from pizza and Lucky Charms to pad thai and Popeye’s” (Maxim). Featured on Today and CBS This Morning Named one of the best books of the year by Food & Wine, Saveur, and Town & Country Sancerre and Cheetos go together like milk and cookies. The science behind this unholy alliance is as elemental as acid, fat, salt, and minerals. Wine pro Vanessa Price explains how to create your own pairings while proving you don’t necessarily need fancy foods to unlock the joys of wine. Building upon the outsize success of her weekly column in Grub Street, Price offers delightfully bold wine and food pairings alongside hilarious tales from her own unlikely journey as a Kentucky girl making it in the Big Apple and in the wine business. Using language everyone can understand, she reveals why each dynamic duo is a match made in heaven, serving up memorable takeaways that will help you navigate any wine list or local bottle shop. Charmingly illustrated and bubbling with personality, Big Macs & Burgundy will open your mind to the entirely fun and entirely accessible wine pairings out there waiting to be discovered—and make you do a few spit-takes along the way. “The book explores all different kinds of combinations, including breakfast pairings like avocado toast and Rueda Verdejo, pairings for entertaining like shrimp cocktail & Valdeorras Godello, and even some pairings with popular Trader Joe’s items.” —Food & Wine “A smart, useful guide to drinking the world’s great wine, whether you’re pairing it with foie gras or Fritos.” —Town & Country

A raucous and surprising novel filled with wonderful details about wine, Rex Pickett's Sideways is also a thought-provoking and funny book about men, women, and human relationships. The basis for the 2004 comedy-drama road movie of the same name starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church. Sideways is the story of two friends-Miles and Jack-going away together for the last time to steep themselves in everything that makes it good to be young and single: pinot, putting, and prowling bars. In the week before Jack plans to marry, the pair heads out from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez wine country. For Jack, the tasting tour is Seven Days to D-Day, his final stretch of freedom. For Miles--who has divorced his wife, is facing an uncertain career and has lost his passion for living-the trip is a week long opportunity to evaluate his past, his future and himself.

DeVilliers' quest for the 'heartbreak grape' begins with one sip of the superlative Calera Jensen '87. Behind the scenes of one of the world's most fascinating and romantic industries, the author celebrates the tenacity and invention of individuals who devote their lives to the magnificent obesession of wine-making in this completely revised and updated edition.

Pinot noir, the famously elegant, sexy, and capricious red grape of Burgundy, is finally producing impressive wines in North America. Credit talented winemakers, enthusiastic restaurateurs, and consumers in search of alternatives to cabernet and zinfandel. Considered perhaps the ultimate food wine, pinot noir has an allure based on its special combination of aromas, flavors, and mouthfeel; on its legendary capacity to reflect the terroir where it is grown; and on its reputation for being hard to grow and make. This is the definitive work on pinot noir in North America. A comprehensive reference for winemakers and aficionados as well as a sourcebook for casual enthusiasts, it includes extensive historical and viticultural background on pinot noir in the New World and profiles of six dozen prominent producers in California, Oregon, British Columbia, and New York. John Winthrop Haeger, known for his perceptive wine writing for more than fifteen years, gives contextual and comparative information about pinot noir in Burgundy and then tells the story of wine producers' early failures, frustrations, and breakthroughs in North America. He discusses plant genetics and clones, identifies the essential conditions for really good pinot, tells where the best wines are grown and made, and analyzes the factors that determine wine styles and signatures. In the second part of the book, he presents detailed producer profiles with accessibly written tasting notes on recent and mature vintages. A final section covers glassware, vintages, wine and food pairings, and other matters of interest to consumers. Maps prepared especially for this book cover all the major pinot-producing regions in North America.

Inspired by Jules Verne’s classic adventure tale, celebrated editor-in-chief of The Wine Economist Mike Veseth takes his readers Around the World in Eighty Wines. The journey starts in London, Phileas Fogg’s home base, and follows Fogg’s itinerary to France and Italy before veering off in search of compelling wine stories in Syria, Georgia, and Lebanon. Every glass of wine tells a story, and so each of the eighty wines must tell an important tale. We head back across Northern Africa to Algeria, once the world’s leading wine exporter, before hopping across the sea to Spain and Portugal. We follow Portuguese trade routes to Madeira and then South Africa with a short detour to taste Kenya’s most famous Pinot Noir. Kenya? Pinot Noir? Really! The route loops around, visiting Bali, Thailand, and India before heading north to China to visit Shangri-La. Shangri-La? Does that even exist? It does, and there is wine there. Then it is off to Australia, with a detour in Tasmania, which is so cool that it is hot. The stars of the Southern Cross (and the title of a familiar song) guide us to New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina. We ride a wine train in California and rendezvous with Planet Riesling in Seattle before getting into fast cars for a race across North America, collecting more wine as we go. Pause for lunch in Virginia to honor Thomas Jefferson, then it’s time to jet back to London to tally our wines and see what we have learned. Why these particular places? What are the eighty wines and what do they reveal? And what is the surprise plot twist that guarantees a happy ending for every wine lover? Come with us on a journey of discovery that will inspire, inform, and entertain anyone who loves travel, adventure, or wine.

Recounts how Josh Jensen founded the Calera Wine Company in a part of California not noted for its wines, and struggled to create a high quality, European-style pinot noir wine

The concept of terroir is one of the most celebrated and controversial subjects in wine today. Most will agree that well-made wine has the capacity to express “somewhereness,” a set of consistent aromatics, flavors, or textures that amount to a signature expression of place. But for every advocate there is a skeptic, and for every writer singing praises related to terroir there is a study or a detractor seeking to debunk terroir as myth. Wine and Place examines terroir using a multitude of voices and points of view—from winemakers to wine critics, from science to literature—seeking not to prove its veracity but to explore its pros, cons, and other aspects. This comprehensive anthology lets readers come to their own conclusions about terroir.

Once grown only in Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon has spread internationally to become the world's most important black winegrape. The Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and other varieties has become universal, but is also challenged by varietal wines from the New World consisting exclusively of Cabernet Sauvignon. What is the true character of Cabernet Sauvignon? Going behind the scenes, this worldwide survey liberally illustrated with maps and photographs examines the changing nature of Cabernet Sauvignon and its blends: how has Cabernet changed from a herbaceous to a fruit-driven wine? Should Cabernet Sauvignon be drinkable on release or require aging? And does Cabernet Sauvignon still need to be blended in the era of global warming? How do the top wines of Napa Valley differ from the First Growths of Bordeaux? Has Bordeaux lost its way in adopting a riper "international" style? How do its wines compare with Bordeaux blends from Coonawarra or Margaret River? Will global warming eliminate Merlot as a partner for Cabernet Sauvignon? What is the future for blends with Carmenère or Malbec in South America or with Syrah in Australia? Is Bordeaux still the essential reference point or has it been displaced by newer regions? Reviewing Cabernets from all over the world, Claret & Cabs includes profiles of leading producers with tasting notes from current and past vintages, and vintage assessments. Author Benjamin Lewin MW brings a unique combination of qualifications in wine and science to bear on the world of wine. He is a Master of Wine, and was founding Editor of the leading scientific journal, Cell. His previous books, What Price Bordeaux? Wine Myths and Reality, and In Search of Pinot Noir, received worldwide critical acclaim for their innovative approach, and were short listed for the prestigious André Simon and Roederer wine book awards. Lewin also writes the myths and realities column in the World of Fine Wine, and contributes to Decanter magazine, Wine & Spirits, and TONG.