Ebook Godforsaken Grapes A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange Obscure and Underappreciated Wine Jason Wilson 9781419735127 Books

Product details Hardcover 320 pages Publisher Harry N. Abrams; Reprint edition (April 9, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1419735128

Godforsaken Grapes A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange Obscure and Underappreciated Wine Jason Wilson 9781419735127 Books Reviews

• This was a really enjoyable read, not like your normal guide to wine. It's more of a travel book, a fascinating journey through wines you may have never heard of, hard-to-find grape varieties, and wine regions that don't get a lot of attention. Like in his first book Boozehound, Jason Wilson had a real story to tell in this book, a story about how wines can go forgotten, and how the wine industry as we've known it is in flux right now, with voices of influential wine critics becoming less important. I like to think of myself as an educated wine drinker, but I found plenty of inspiration in this book to make me want to drink more adventurously and curiously, doing what I can to support the winemakers growing and making these obscure wines. I'll be seeking out those of the 101 obscure varieties in the back of the book that I've yet to try and am happy to have this book as my guide.
• Godforsaken Grapes will introduce the reader to a number of fine wines made from lesser known grapes that are delicious and usually cheap. The book is a real eye opener. It has made me a fan of Austrian wines. I highly recommend it to wine lovers. My only complaint is that it is not comprehensive. A limited number of wines were covered. Let's hope for a Godforsaken Grapes Volume II.
• I like to try new wines. Whether it's a California winery using a grape that's a little different or local wines when I travel, it's a change of pace. Sometimes it's a revelation, sometimes it's not so great. But there is a lot of wine in the world compared to supermarket standards with a dozen interchangeable labels.
  
  This book is the author's search for wines from rare grapes. I lift a glass to him. Sure, I have quibbles with the book. It's a little too much about Austria and the Alps, and I'm more interested in the Mediterranean. I'd rather there was more about the wine and less about the author.
  
  But I enjoyed the book and wanted to keep reading. And reading. Hard to criticize a book that does that to you.
  
  Some of his finds I was aware of. Some not. Some I now have a goal of meeting. If you want to know more about wine that doesn't come from the twenty grapes that dominate worldwide production, you should enjoy this book.
  
  I received a copy for review from the publisher, but have ordered a copy of the finished book for my library, and another to give as a gift.
• This is a rarity. A great book about wine, and I write about wine and food and travel--it is deeply original, lively, and surprising. I frankly steer clear of most books about food-wine-travel because they don't provide other contexts or stories that food-wine-travel can illuminate. This book tells great stories. I think the last book on wine that was as good was Kermit Lynch's book on wine, written long ago. It's changed how I think about wine, and how I buy wine, too; specifically, I'm now better tuned into lesser known grapes and smaller producers. And of course I'm delighted that the author writes about Swiss wines, among my favorites.
• Perhaps the title should be A challenge to many established wine critics regarding lesser known wine grapes!
  
  Too many times the author has conveyed the idea that only indigenous grapes should be the best for any particular terroir. But then, what "indigenous" is and why such "indigenous" must be the best could not have been easily concluded. In the same vein, if "indigenous" should be the perfect answer, the United States should be governed by the original ethnic race, the "American Indians", no less. There could be many reasons why critics like Mr. Parker should have a derogatory remarks on many a rare wine grape. "Survival of the fittest" might spring to mind. Furthermore, how much additional effort has ever been put by growers of the so-called "international" or "popular" grapes? Recently, I have visited a winery in Naoussa, the Ktima Dalamara, a supposedly reputed winery in northern Greece. Perhaps the small winery lacks really good marketing of their Xinomavro wine - one which is mentioned by the author. But what I see their relatively less success in the wine world has more to do with their lack of enthusiasm to people who tired to come and visit them. Furthermore, anyone could notice the particular sanity state the winery was in - not a sign of really enthusiastic investment. Imagine how many more wine faults this winery could have made compared to some really well-managed Bordeaux vineyards, like Chateau Pichon-Baron, where spectacularly clean equipment and cellar confer so much confidence to the visitors. In other words, there must be many a reasons for the decline of the less popular wine grapes, sometimes not just purely political or commercial, and certainly not because certain authoritative wine critics say so.
• If you liked Cork Dork, or Wine. All. The. Time. or are just really interested in good food and travel writing. Pick this up. You won't be dissapointed.
• I really enjoyed Mr. Wilson's honest and candid insight into his personal wine journey. I'm a bartender at a natural wine focused bar in Chicago, so not unfamiliar with obscure varietals and the perils of introducing them to the general public. The writer is neither judgemental nor forgiving in his analysis and i really appreciated that. The fact is Robert Parker is a member of a shrinking demographic of the willfully ignorant few, clinging to the elitist and exclusionary values of antiquity. Unfortunately these people exist in every part of American society. Natural wine is the future!!!
• The book brings the reader to places most will never go , with a style that brings visions of vino .
  Thank you