Ideal Wine

FromDavid Darlington, author of the acclaimed Angels Visits (published inpaperback as Zin), comes an inside look at howa handful of visionary winemakers has transformedand been transformed bytheCalifornia wine industry over the past four decades. In the tradition of TheWidow Clicquot and The Billionaires Vinegar,Darlingtons An Ideal Wine is afascinating, lively tale of vision and daring, of business and politics, ofnature and culture, and of the unlikely birth of a multi-billion dollarindustry.

From the author of the acclaimed Angels' Visits comes an inside look at how a handful of ingenious winemakers has transformed?and been transformed by?the California wine industry over the past four decades.

In the 1970s, a group of idealistic baby boomers was attracted to the seemingly romantic world of winemaking. Over the course of nearly forty years, however?as competition from abroad increased, wine eclipsed beer and spirits as American adults' beverage of choice, critics came to control the marketplace, and corporatization took over the industry?these young aesthetes would learn that wine is an unforgiving business. They would have to be clever to survive in an increasingly cutthroat atmosphere, and no one was more innovative than Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard?the court jester and bleeding conscience of California wine, its most original and amusing figure. But Grahm is only one of the restless visionaries who, having chosen wine as the vehicle through which to fulfill their dreams, ended up changing the rules of the industry by adapting to its demands. From high technology to hardball entrepreneurship, from handicapping scores to holistic farming, each vintner operates by his or her own definition of an ideal wine.

In this lively, sweeping account that spans the early seventies to the present day, David Darlington employs a sharp journalistic eye to profile a group of wine pioneers. A tale of vision and disillusion, brinksmanship and pragmatism, nature and business, politics and culture, An Ideal Wine is a fascinating look at an ever-evolving industry that reflects the values of our society and our civilization.

Autorentext

David Darlington is the author of four books: In Condor Country, Angels' Visits (published in paperback as Zin), The Mojave, and Area 51. A special correspondent for Wine & Spirits and a recipient of a 2008 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer, he also won a National Magazine Award for Public Interest in 2009. He lives in Berkeley and Mendocino County, California.

Klappentext

FromDavid Darlington, author of the acclaimed Angels' Visits (published inpaperback as Zin), comes an inside look at howa handful of visionary winemakers has transformed—and been transformed by—theCalifornia wine industry over the past four decades. In the tradition of TheWidow Clicquot and The Billionaire's Vinegar,Darlington's An Ideal Wine is afascinating, lively tale of vision and daring, of business and politics, ofnature and culture, and of the unlikely birth of a multi-billion dollarindustry.