MASSEE'S GUIDE TO WINES OF AMERICA

California consumes three times the national average of wine, mostly its own product -- and San Francisco, only a corkscrew from the great wineries, drinks ten times as much as the rest of the state. So it makes sense that Massee (Wines of France) concentrates primarily on those wines; in any case, they're unquestionably among the best produced in this country. He covers all the varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay), the generic (Burgundy, Chablis, Mountain Red, etc.), and along the way tells you everything you always wanted to know but were too confused to know it. What makes Massee worth reading is that he's on to the finest producers, and even though outside of California we're apt to find only limited stocks of Korbel, Beaulieu and the others, these wines, he suggests, can be ordered by the case through your local distributor. Agoston Harszthy who first introduced the grape to the West Coast once predicted that it would take 100 years for California wines to become what they should be. And that, according to Massee, is just about now.