A year in the life of the vineyards and wines of the USA Slow Wine Guide USA is a new and revolutionary guide to the wines of California, Oregon, New York, and Washington. Thanks to the help of a handful of expert contributors, we've selected the best wineries from each state and reviewed their most outstanding bottles. The idea behind Slow Wine is simple: it acknowledges the unique stories of people and vineyards, of grape varieties and landscapes, and of their wines. The awareness that wine is more than just liquid in a glass helps wine lovers make better, more conscious choices and enhances the very enjoyment of this beverage. Since its beginnings in Italy twelve years ago, Slow Wine has combined its tasting sessions with equally important moments of exchange and debate with producers. The direct contact with winegrowers and winemakers allows for a genuine, authentic, and always up-to-date report on what's happening in America's vineyards and cellars. Each winery receives a review divided in three sections: the first one is dedicated to the people who live and work at the winery, the second to the vineyards and the way they're farmed, and the third to the finest wines currently available on the market. The very best wines are awarded the Top Wine accolade. Among these we have the Slow Wines--which beyond their outstanding sensory quality are of particular interest for their sense of place, environmental sustainability or historical value--and the Everyday Wines, representing excellent value at prices within $30. The most interesting wineries on the other hand are awarded the Snail, for the way they interpret Slow Food values (sensory perceptions, territory, environment, identity) while offering good value for money; the Bottle, to wineries whose wines are of outstanding sensory quality throughout the range; the Coin to those estates offering excellent value for money.

Slow Wine US is a new and revolutionary guide to the wines of California, Oregon, New York and Washington, which acknowledges the unique stories of people and vineyards, of grape varieties and landscapes, and of their wines.

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.

With a total of 285 wineries reviewed from California, Oregon and now from New York and Washington states, the 2021 edition of the Slow Wine guide USA covers more ground than ever before. For the first time, the 2021 edition stands as an individual publication devoted to US producers. The idea behind Slow Wine is straightforward: it acknowledges the unique stories of people and vineyards, of grape varieties and landscapes, and of their wines. The knowledge that wine is more than just liquid in a glass helps wine lovers make better, more conscious choices and enhances the very enjoyment of these products. Since its beginnings in Italy eleven years ago, Slow Wine has combined its tasting sessions with equally important moments of exchange and debate with producers. In doing so, we're bringing you the most up-to-date information about what's happening at the wineries within our pages. We're thrilled to see the guide finding fertile ground in the USA. Our incredible team of wine experts has once again teamed up to bring you our fourth edition, Slow Wine 2021 - a year in the life of the vineyards and wines of the USA.

"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.

Remember the days before the dot.com explosion, before Golden Arches rose from the Great Plains, before the Age of Information, when the only commodity that wasn't in short supply in America was time? Time to relax and reflect, time to cook well, eat well, and live the life of sustainable hedonism. Today we pound down our Big Mac and fries as we check our e-mail on our collective Palm Pilots, at the expense of true nourishment for our bodies and souls. "Enough!" says Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food International, a movement that encourages us to turn down the volume, unplug the answering machine, and enjoy life to its fullest. Away with nutraceutical soft drinks and breakfast cereals made from refined sugar and shaped liked clowns. Bring back the pleasure of the palate, and return the humanity to food. More than 60,000 members worldwide now belong to the Slow Food movement, which believes that the slow shall inherit the earth. Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food is an anthology for cooks, gourmets, and anyone who is passionate about food and its impact on our culture. Drawn from five years of the quarterly journal Slow (only recently available in America), this book includes more than 100 articles covering eclectic topics from "Falafel" to "Fat City." From the market at Ulan Bator in Mongolia to Slow Food Down Under, this book offers an armchair tour of the exotic and bizarre. You'll pass through Vietnam's Snake Tavern, enjoy the Post-Industrial Pint of Beer, and learn why the lascivious villain in Indian cinema always eats Tandoori Chicken. The articles are contributed by some of the world's top food writers. Slow Food is moving fast in North America, with more than 5,000 members, loosely organized into 55 "Convivia," from Montreal to San Francisco, benefiting from enormous free publicity. Slow Food offers a clear alternative to the "fast food nation" (the title of Eric Schlosser's great book on the horrors of the fast food biz). This is a perfect follow-up to Joan Dye Gussow's This Organic Life, and is proof positive that he or she who lives slow, lives best.

Everything you need to know about the fruit of the vine—From A to Zinfandel. If you enjoy wine—but can't articulate why—you're not alone! From terroir to global varieties, Wine: A Beginner's Guide breaks down the complex bouquets of winemaking and tasting into ways that are fun and easy to understand. Learn what really makes a cabernet sauvignon red. Taste how it's possible to detect a hint of leather, chocolate, or even rubber in a single sip. Confidently discuss the subtleties of different types of grapes with the guide that has everything you need to know to grow your love of wine. Wine: A Beginner's Guide includes: Taste right—The 4-Step process to tasting wine means you'll get the most flavor from every swish and swirl. Pour with poise—Handle a bottle of vino just right, with tips on proper serving temperature, glass style, and long-term storage. Perfect match—An entire chapter on pairing with food means you'll select a bottle that complements every meal. Uncork your inner sommelier and sip confidently with Wine: A Beginner's Guide.

Ever been baffled by a wine list, stood perplexed before endless racks of bottles at the liquor store, or ordered an overpriced bottle out of fear of the scathing judgment of a restaurant sommelier? Before she became a James Beard Award—winning food and wine writer, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl experienced all these things. Now she presents a handy guide that will show you how to stop being overwhelmed and intimidated, how to discover, respect, and enjoy your own personal taste, and how to be whatever kind of wine person you want to be, from budding connoisseur to someone who simply gets wine you like every time you buy a bottle. Refreshingly simple, irreverent, and witty, Drink This explains all the insider stuff that wine critics assume you know. It will teach you how to taste and savor wine, alone, with a friend, or with a group. And perhaps most important, this book gives you the tools to learn the only thing that really matters about wine: namely, figuring out what you like. Grumdahl draws on her own experience and savvy and interviews some of the world’s most renowned critics, winemakers, and chefs, including Robert M. Parker, Jr., Paul Draper, and Thomas Keller, who share their wisdom about everything from pairing food and wine to the inside scoop on what wine scores and reviews really mean. Readers will learn how to master tasting techniques and understand the winemaking process from soil to cellar. Drink This also reveals how to get your money’s worth out of wine without spending all you’ve got. At last there’s a reason for wary wine lovers to raise a glass in celebration. Savor the insider’s viewpoint and straight talk of Drink This, and watch your intimidation of wine transform into well-grounded, unshakeable confidence.

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.