|
Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink | 
 enlarge | Author: Tyler Colman
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
Buy New: $18.15
You Save: $9.35 (34%)
New (33) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $16.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 8125
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0520255216
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.476632
EAN: 9780520255210
ASIN: 0520255216
Publication Date: July 14, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
After 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.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 EYE OPENING December 2, 2008
This book 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 of California can vary significantly not only from year to year but from bottle to bottle. Finally we learn of the undue influence some critics have on what is grown and we learn that clever vintners are designing their wines to appeal to these critics regardless of how they really think wine should be made. With backstories about the politics of wine in France and the United States and with charts and tables showing us the massive control
a very limited number of companies, mostly privately held, control just about everything we get on average store shelves the book teaches one important lesson. Drink what you like, search out obscure wineries, explore on your own, and trust your own judgment.
A Must Read for Anybody that Weighs in on Wine from the Court of Public Opinion November 19, 2008
Starting this book 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 is a fact I believe to be true, but other historians do not acknowledge it in the same context. Indiana is the home of the first successful viticulture in the U.S.
8) On page 34, the author notes that FDR and his administration sought to revive the domestic wine industry, post Prohibition, establishing an experimental winery in Beltsville, Maryland and Mississippi. An interesting factoid.
7) On page 76, the author notes that Napa Valley become the second AVA in 1981. Augusta, Missouri beat them to the punch for the first designated AVA. Another interesting factoid.
6) Chapter 4 should be required reading for every wine lover for the in-depth, but easy to understand explanation of the dynamics of big and small wineries and how that wine gets to our table
5) On page 110, aside from the extracted wines that are largely attributed to Robert Parker (which gets good coverage here, as well), the author summarizes the balance of the wine industry that is polarizing for many enthusiasts in one fell swoop, in regards to large corporations like Constellation and E& J Gallo, he says, "All of these corporations regard wine as a brand."
4) On page 114, the author notes that the first genetically modified yeast strain for wine, ML01, is available in the U.S. An interesting fact that I did not know that is even more interesting given our current fascination with food origins and natural winemaking
3) On page 118, the author paraphrases and quotes noted macro-economist John Maynard Keynes, a noted 20th century thinker and translates that to wine reviews with the following mention, " ... to try to predict the winner of a lineup of one hundred contestants in a beauty contest, the best tactic is to `favor an average definition of beauty rather than a personal one.'"
2) On page 136, the author distills Biodynamics down to one succinct, understandable sentence: "Biodynamics takes a holistic approach to establishing a self-regulating ecosystem, with few or no external inputs and nothing going to waste."
1) The footnotes run 16 pages. The bibliography runs 6 pages. Rarely do you see this level of research and detail. Impressive.
Wine Politics is a fantastic book - a book that every wine lover should read and a book that, undoubtedly, will make its way onto college wine program curriculum and reading lists. If you are interested in learning the dynamics and back-story of how and why wine gets to our table in the manner that it does, in a way that is understandable and concisely explained, I cannot think of a better book to help guide you down the path to greater understanding.
No nonsense October 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 and marketing decisions on the wines we drink.
Tyler Colman's purpose is to enlighten the consumer about the political forces that all producers have to be subjected by, even those seen as celebrities. As he says: it "illuminates how distributors, mobsters, environmentalists, regulators, and critics all have a hand in producing, selling and delivering the glass of wine we will drink tonight". In doing it so, it also helps to demystify the common dogmatic approach to wine, as choices in wine making, more often than not, are a fruit of impositions of political and marketing realities.
This book takes on the USA and French markets as examples and set them "side by side, studying the different paths taken by winemakers ... to produce the quality wines we enjoy today."
In France he draws a picture of the early rise of Bordeaux and fall of La Rochelle due to marriage ties between Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II in 1152, the influence of ngociants and the early creation of brands with the classification scheme of 1855, the tragedy brought by the phylloxera aphid in the mid 19th century and rebirth of an industry with new plantings and the renaissance of old Midi (Southwest of France) with advent of the railroads and the consequent crisis of oversupply and falling prices, the fraudulent production of wine and the creation of the restrictive Appellacion System to protect those known areas.
In the USA depicts the importance of the Californian Gold Rush with the arrival of immigrants and their thirst for wine, the formation of large conglomerates which valued quantity other than quality and the temperance movement to ban alcoholic consumption. He exposes the loopholes of the 18th Amendment (The Prohibition), the rise of home winemaking and the consequent image problem after the Repeal, the rise of the new American viticulture after the Paris Tasting of 1976 and the bureaucratic growth of a viticultural area after its success.
It is a book about the "booms and bursts" of the wine business. It is a historical account that helps us understand the mechanisms that trigger changes and trends that are often are not understood by the unsuspecting consumer. It is a must read book for everyone interested in the trade and the history behind this beverage that some are so passionate about.
To know what's in the bottle you buy October 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 is very enlightening and brings a few surprises. French-born I usually rant about the French administration, its stupid regulations and how the system slows down (and even prohibits) any kind of initiatives. Guess what? America is not any better: the pages on how the environmentalists prevented the development of many vineyards is absolutely amazing. And don't even mention the war between "Baptists and Bootleggers" - a fascinating chapter - or the Prohibition days.
In this book, everybody will learn something: marketers, wine lovers, winemakers, corporations and consumers. After reading the book, you'll know how the bottle you bought ended up on the shelf of a supermarket or a very exclusive wine store, why the wine you heard one of your friends say wonders about is not available in your area and why this wine you know is plonk is all over the stores.
Please make sure you read this book - especially if you're French or American. Knowing very well your side of the story, you'll be amazed by what is really behind the scenes in your country or the other one. Having a foot in both, my heart went back and forth as well as my compassion for the two industries and the consumer. But I refuse to be pessimistic and I agree 100% with Tyler when he writes: "Any producer who can sell wines for $500 a bottle, or a company such as LVMH that can sell almost 600,000 cases of wine for an average of $44 a bottle, certainly has something to teach wine marketers in other parts of the world. But William Deutsch, who sold 7 millions cases of Yellow Tail at $6 a bottle in 2005, also has lessons to teach the French. This global exchange of learning helps make winemakers more efficient as well as helping artisanal winemakers make their products more distinctive."
Enjoy life, good wines and good food!
Appreciating wine more by understanding its politics September 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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 a deeper understanding of wine.
If you have ever wondered why certain wines show up on some store shelves but not others, or why specific wines appear on certain restaurant menus while others do not, then you should read Wine Politics. The book not only explains how politics influence the distribution of wine here in the U.S., but also reveals how these same forces direct each bottle's production and eventual consumption. The best description of this book is offered by the author in Chapter 1::
"In this book I follow the travels that a bottle of wine takes from the vineyard to the dining-room table. Along the way it may encounter flying winemakers, humble vignerons, dull regulators, passionate activists, and powerful critics. I tell the neglected backstory of wine, which, as with Hollywood movies, can often be more interesting than the finished product."
Tyler Colman, a.k.a. Dr. Vino, approaches this topic by following the wine histories of France and the U.S., with a focus on winemaking in each country's respective, and most venerable, region, Bordeaux and Napa. This comparative treatment offers the reader a variety of useful insights and revelations throughout the book. Tyler extends his geographic coverage to include other regions of the world, including mentions of specific politics, policies, and practices in the Pacific Northwest.
I enjoyed the second half of the book the most, which includes chapters such as, "Who Controls Your Palate?", and, "Greens, Gripes, and Grapes". What Michael Pollan did in such great detail for food in "The Omnivore's Dilemma", Tyler Colman has now provided for wine, albeit at a cursory level, in these two chapters. For it is in chapters five and six that Tyler exposes the downside of the industrialization of wine, while contrasting this approach with the upside of "natural" winemaking practices.
After reading Tyler's book, I now have a deeper understanding of the public policies that influence the wines I am able to buy and ultimately enjoy at my table. As a result, I am a much more informed consumer, citizen, and most importantly, voter. I highly recommend Wine Politics as required reading for anyone seeking to enlarge their understanding of wine.
If Wine Politics is any indication of the path Tyler Colman is on with future books, then I am confident he will continue to increase my appreciation for wine in the years ahead.
|
|
|
|
Powered by ThailandShoppingCenter.com
| |
