Around the World in Eighty Wines
Exploring Wine One Country at a Time
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by Jules Verne’s classic adventure tale, celebrated editor-in-chief of The Wine Economist Mike Veseth takes his readers Around the World in Eighty Wines.
The journey starts in London, Phileas Fogg’s home base, and follows Fogg’s itinerary to France and Italy before veering off in search of compelling wine stories in Syria, Georgia, and Lebanon. Every glass of wine tells a story, and so each of the eighty wines must tell an important tale. We head back across Northern Africa to Algeria, once the world’s leading wine exporter, before hopping across the sea to Spain and Portugal. We follow Portuguese trade routes to Madeira and then South Africa with a short detour to taste Kenya’s most famous Pinot Noir. Kenya? Pinot Noir? Really!
The route loops around, visiting Bali, Thailand, and India before heading north to China to visit Shangri-La. Shangri-La? Does that even exist? It does, and there is wine there. Then it is off to Australia, with a detour in Tasmania, which is so cool that it is hot. The stars of the Southern Cross (and the title of a familiar song) guide us to New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina. We ride a wine train in California and rendezvous with Planet Riesling in Seattle before getting into fast cars for a race across North America, collecting more wine as we go. Pause for lunch in Virginia to honor Thomas Jefferson, then it’s time to jet back to London to tally our wines and see what we have learned.
Why these particular places? What are the eighty wines and what do they reveal? And what is the surprise plot twist that guarantees a happy ending for every wine lover? Come with us on a journey of discovery that will inspire, inform, and entertain anyone who loves travel, adventure, or wine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, Veseth's personal journey through the complex and compelling world of wine starts and ends on London's St. James's Street, home to fine-wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd since 1698. Along the way, Veseth tours Bordeaux and Burgundy, where some of the world's best wines are made, and visits the more uncharted wine-growing territories of Bali, Thailand, and Tasmania. Veseth chooses the wines he profiles based on the ability of each to excite the palate, and the imagination: "Each of eighty wines must tell a story, must not just each tell their own story.... They must collectively form a picture and tell a story that reveals a greater truth," he writes. As a result, reading his book is rather like attending a swanky cocktail party: it contains a vast and varied buffet, with loads of interesting conversational tidbits. The book makes for an entertaining introduction to the world of wines. As an added bonus, the author also provides a bibliography for those wishing to delve deeper into the topic.
