At a time when medications preclude my drinking wine, it hasn’t stopped me from reading and writing about wine. Not a recommended dichotomy in your daily existence. Regardless, the situation has led me to asking, “What are some of you reading?” What wine reads can I recommend? In that vein, please send me your reading suggestions in the comment section and I will share them in a future post in the comments section of this blog. I have previously written about wine resources. You can find them here: https://wp.me/p74VSa-eJ. Here are a few additions to that list.
Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: The Master Guide
Wine Folly remains an excellent resource and has been updated and expanded. Case in point is the Wine Folly book. The authors (Madeline Puckette and Justin Hammack) have subsequently come out with an updated expanded version called, Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: The Master Guide (Pictured above). It is even better and more comprehensive than the original version. I also recommend their flavor and aroma wheels, available on their website: www.winefolly.com.
Cork Dork
Another book, that I have been re-reading, is Bianca Bosker’s best selling book, called Cork Dork (pictured below). She was the invited speaker at William Heritage Winery for one of The Winemakers Co-Op events. Her wonderful book tells her story about a successful and award winning journalist, who decided to pursue the journey of wine and all of its glory. The tagline for her book is A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live For Taste. That gives you a great feel for her journey. Along the way you will learn quite a bit about the wine business. Bosker takes you for a deep dive, but makes it both interesting and humorous. I highly recommend it, if you know the basics about wine, but have ever thought about pursuing the wine business or at least your new obsession.
Godforsaken Grapes
Another interesting book about wine is called Godforsaken Grapes. It is written by Jason Wilson (also an invited speaker at a Winemakers Co-Op event). I was glad I could make it for that one at Beneduce Vineyards. I’ve been missing them during this damn pandemic. Wilson discusses some of the lesser known grapes, weaving history, geography and a healthy dose of humor into a fascinating book. (Below)
In addition to these books, I want to add an excellent blog that I follow:
- The Cork Report-Lenn Thompson is Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief; Todd Trzaskas is Co-founder and Managing Editor; Carlo DeVito is Editor-At-Large. There are also regional editors and contributors to this blog, all focused on North American Wine Country. The blog has a heavy emphasis on East Coast wineries, and some under reported areas like Michigan. Good stuff (including New Jersey wineries). Find it at thecorkreport.us
Speaking of books about wine…
You can still download your ebook copy of my book, New Jersey Uncorked for $9.99 with the Coupon Code: Winter2021. Where? Only at the Apple iBook store. Not available at Amazon!
On a separate note…Have you been watching Stanley Tucci’s Series on CNN, called Searching for Italy? It is wonderful! It’s like watching Anthony Bourdain with a hyperfocus on Italy. While the series does not discuss the great wines of Italy, they highlight the amazing foods in each region with a fascinating sprinkling of relevant history. I’d love to see someone with the requisite skill set and media experience pitch a similar project to CNN-highlighting the wines of each region. Perhaps one of my social media wine colleagues.
Cheers!
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