Award-winning wine writer Taber (To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle, 2007, etc.) explores wineries around the world and assesses the development and unique offerings of wine tourism in each region.
The author, a seasoned traveler and oenophile, visited most of the major wine-producing regions in the world, including Napa Valley, where wine tourism was first implemented on a grand scale; the Douro Valley in Portugal and Bordeaux region of France, two of the most richly historical areas in the world of wine; and Kakheti, Georgia, the “last frontier” in wine tourism. Some regions provide more fodder for romantic imaginings than others—the medieval cathedrals set amid the rolling hills of Rioja, Spain; the “unexpected sharpness and deep color saturation” in Central Otago, New Zealand—yet all the destinations possess their own special charm. From exotic wildlife photography in South Africa or listening to symphonies in the Australian bush, to experiencing a cooking class in a Tuscan monastery, Taber demonstrates that there are ample travel opportunities for a wide range of styles, budgets and levels of wine knowledge. Each region is afforded a chapter devoted to the history and development of its tourism, the particular grapes that thrive there and Taber’s recommendations of particular wineries and other attractions that will ensure a memorable trip. Also included are brief vignettes from the author’s travels. While many delightfully capture the essence of each destination, certain shorter, clipped entries may cause readers to thirst for more—a tribute to Taber’s clean, informative and entertaining style.
An evocative blend of travel memoir and history that will satisfy and guide wine lovers planning their own journeys.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4165-6243-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2009
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
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