WINE

For oenophiles and novices alike.

Burk, a University College London historian and co-author of Is This Bottle Corked?: The Secret Life of Wine (2009), has been picking grapes since childhood. Here, she offers a detailed, compendious history that’s rich in wine trivia. Wine dates back thousands of years and played a key role in ancient Greece, where it was used in the practice of medicine and appeared often in literature. Burk quips that Socrates could “drink everyone under the table.” Wine was prominent in Roman life and society, as was terroir—the importance of where wines were cultivated—and women were encouraged to drink it. Thanks to monks and pilgrimages, wine production expanded along the Rhine and elsewhere in Europe. By the 1200s, connoisseurship was common. France and England and the Netherlands became part of the emerging wine market. Gradually, wines came to be known by their regions. The appearance of the corkscrew and strong bottles also made them widely traded commodities. Burk notes with chagrin that wars often destroyed an enemy’s precious vineyards. She does a fine job navigating the complex relationship of Islam and wine. France (not surprisingly) led the field in research and scientific experimentation. The author’s take on the myth of Dom Pérignon creating sparkling champagne is a hoot. Winemaking is famously challenging—even for those who have ample resources. At one point, Burk tells the tale of Leland Stanford, the railroad magnate and founder of Stanford University who was keen to make his own wine after visiting France. “The land he had bought, productive as it was, was not appropriate for wine grapes,” she writes. “By his fourth vintage in 1890, his entire production of 1,700,000 gallons of wine from 10,000 tons of grapes was so unimpressive that it was all distilled into brandy.”

History and wine come together for a favorable blend.