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Book Reviews

Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers
By Malcolm Kushner
Published by Malcolm Kushner and Associates, 2003;
ISBN 0-9704598-9-0; $9.95, Pages: 168

No matter how hard we may try to relax about our wines, many of us will, on occasion, be found guilty of wine snobbery, braggadocio, or fanaticism. Who of us hasn’t, at least once, played the one-upsmanship game when discussing our wine collection, or acted a tad condescendingly when someone ordered a blush wine, or driven ourselves into a frenzy trying to get that last bottle of a strictly allocated and over often-priced bottle. If you have, may I suggest a great antidote, Malcolm Kushner’s Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers?

This little book is definitely big on humor. It’s a keenly selected and an intelligently arranged compendium of jokes, quotations, anecdotes, and cartoons on wine. One of my favorite chapters is “Tasting…1…2…3,” which has a field day with tasting notes and scoring schemes. Another is “Veni, Vidi, Vino: I Came, I Saw, I Got Drunk,” a chapter that takes a humorous look at inebriation. And, for any of us who has experienced the haughty wine steward, “Put A Cork In It” should evoke a good belly laugh as well as provide some ammunition for the next one we encounter.

In addition to all the words, there’s a wonderful collection of cartoons from The New Yorker—all the ones we meant to cut out and save but never got around to doing it.

Whether you’re looking for a gift for a wine lover or a subtle corrective for that wine snob who lives next door, Vintage Humor should fit the bill.

(The book is available on Amazon.com, independent bookstores, and directly from the author, mk@kushnergroup.com.)

Cooking the Roman Way
Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks and Trattorias of Rome
By David Downie
Photographs by Alison Harris
Published by Harper Collins, October 2002;
0060188928; $34.95 Pages: 314

It seems that most cookbooks these days fall into one of three categories: the ever-popular coffee table book, with loads of pictures and a smattering of recipes, the celebrity-chef cookbook, made even more widespread by the popularity of cable television’s Food Network, and finally, the serious, scholarly cookbook. While not as popular, or should I say publicized, as the first two, these more studious works strive to bring an understanding of a culture and the authenticity of its cuisine to the home cook. Authors like Paula Wolfert (The Cooking of South-West France), Lynne Rossetto Kasper (The Splendid Table), or Fred Plotkin (La Terra Fortunata) extend the joy of cooking to thrill of learning. When you prepare a recipe from any of their books, you feel like you’re transported from your home kitchen to a European hearthside.

David Downie’s recent work, Cooking the Roman Way, is another example of this type of book. In his “Introduction,” he defines Roman food as “easy to make, good for you, gutsy, flavorful, and fun to eat.” That spirit of ease and fun pervades the book but never diminishes the authenticity of its recipes. The book comprises five sections of recipes organized like a Roman menu, from Antipasti to Dolci. The perfectly written and easy-to-follow recipes are complemented by informative sidebars that offer the reader personal anecdotes, along with kitchen secrets from home cooks and restaurant chefs. If, for example, you thought you knew Fettucine Alfredo, think again. Downie devotes almost three pages just to background material on this popular dish that are sure not only to make you an expert on it but to heighten your enjoyment of your next plate.

Downie’s clear and concise prose style makes the book a pleasure to read and the attractive and enticing photographs by his wife, Alison Harris, induce you to book the next flight to Rome. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. In fact, it will serve as the culinary reference we use next month for our feature on wine and Roman food.

Vino Italiano
The Regional Wines of Italy
By Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch
Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, April 2002;
0-609-60846-7; $35.00 Pages: 528

Not since Victor Hazan’s Italian Wine, published in 1982, has there been such a well-written and comprehensive book on the subject as Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy. Its two authors, Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch, take on the daunting task of surveying this vast field not only with professional expertise and scholarship but also with enthusiasm and eloquence.

Both authors are eminently qualified. Bastianich is a leading New York City restaurateur and wine retailer. Lynch is an award-winning wine-and-food writer and wine director at Mario Batali and Bastianich’s restaurant Babbo.

And perhaps it’s their close connection to the food world that distinguishes their work from that of so many other wine authors. For example, in discussing gewürztraminer from the Alto Adige region, they write: “…its pungent aromas and flavors can be great for heavy mountain foods like gnocchi alle erbe (gnocchi with wild herbs) or smoked sausages. The heavy use of cinnamon in Alto Adige cooking seems tailor-made for gewürztraminer, which itself gives off distinctive aromas of cinnamon—along with rose petals, lichee nuts, and drippingly ripe peaches.” The small detail “drippingly ripe” conveys both vividly and accurately an essential element of this wine. Again, when using the term “oversulfured” to describe a wine, they follow it immediately with the parenthetical “think of a boiled egg or a burned match” in order to make it clearer to the reader.

It's fine points like these, throughout the book, that make the authors' wine descriptions so graspable. Indeed, even when describing something as ephemeral as the mouthfeel of sparkling wines from the Lombardy region, their prose is exemplary: “…it’s not so much a specific flavor but a feel that links them to Champagne: Rather than plod across your palate, these wines stand on their tiptoes, tense and nervous, always maintaining their sinewy posture.”

All my praise of their prose might make you think that you'll be as exasperated as Hamlet’s Gertrude, when she adjures the grandiloquent Polonius to get to the point. But rest assured, there’s as much matter as there is art in Vino Italiano. The book is intelligently structured in three parts. Part 1, “The Basics,” provides an introduction to the subject, with a concise history of Italian wine, followed by an excellent explanation of Italian wine laws and grape varieties. There’s also an informative section, “The Journey of the Wine,” that helps to explain why that wine you had for $30 in Florence goes for $100 at your local wine merchant.

Part 2 represents the core of the book. It comprises 19 sections that take you on a detailed tour through Italy’s 21 wine regions, from north to south. Each begins with an entertaining, anecdotal story that captures the region’s distinctive spirit. Indeed, some of the narratives might make you want to book the next Alitalia flight to Rome or Florence. For example, the opening section on Puglia, located in southern Italy’s stiletto-like “heel,” recounts a visit to a winery, where we meet a veteran vineyard worker, Pino. The authors wittily, yet affectionately, describe his expressive gesticulations and make a case for an illustrated dictionary of Italian hand gestures.

But these entertaining anecdotes are always followed by serious, insightful discussions of the local wines. For each region, as many as four categories of wine (white, red, sweet, sparkling) are described and explained. These sections provide a great reference source for novice and oenophile alike. Each one ends with a “Fast Facts” inset that presents a summary of the region: its towns, wine production, specialty foods, and key grape varieties, as well as useful vintage and wine-touring information. There’s also an instructive “Tastings” guide with excellent tasting notes and wine recommendations. Finally, a recipe for a representative dish from the region by either Lidia Bastianich or Mario Batali concludes each section.

Part 3 consists of straightforward reference material that is both comprehensive and up to date. It includes an excellent glossary of Italian wine terms, an exhaustive list of authorized Italian grape varieties, a detailed directory of the Italian wine zones, an admittedly subjective listing of 700 wine producers, and finally a useful list of resources.

All too often, wine books are either too dry, filled only with facts and figures, or too fruity, packed with pictures and paeans. Many are high-level overviews that might engage the novice but bore the oenophile. Others are overly specialized treatises that might excite the avid collector but lose the uninitiated. However, like a fine Barolo, Vino Italiano is well structured, with erudition and passion in perfect balance.

A Well-Structured Wine Reference

Oz Clarke's Wine Guide 2002
Focus Multimedia Limited
CD-ROM (RRP £19.99)

I must admit that, in the past, I've more often than not been disappointed with what the software industry has termed edutainment CD-ROMs. Like Hamlet's overly eloquent Polonius, they generally offer more art than matter. But in the case of OZ Clarke's Wine Guide 2002, technology has been skillfully applied to serve up an intelligent and engaging introductory wine course and reference work.

Oz Clarke may indeed be one of the most prolific wine writers around. His Pocket Wine Guide, Oz Clarke's New Encyclopedia of Wine, and Oz' Clarke's Introducing Wine, have all been favorably reviewed here and admired for their down-to-earth, unaffected treatment of wine.

In addition to offering well-researched and effectively organized material, Clarke, in this latest offering, published by Focus Multimedia, manages to share his enthusiasm for his subject with his reader. Totally free of affectation and without any condescension, Clarke guides you through the "mysteries" of wine in a series of concise and coherent videos.

The first part of the CD, "Wine Tasting with Oz" (notice we're already on a first-name basis) presents the basics from glassware to corkscrews and demonstrates the correct way to open a bottle. It also includes instructive videos on how to taste and analyze wine, covering topics like acidity, tannins, and alcohol. This section culminates with a comprehensive "Tasting Tour" that covers 18 representative wines, where Clarke (or should I say Oz) applies what he talks about at the beginning of the guide.

The second part, "All About Wine," takes you from vineyard to winery, discussing viticulture, winemaking, and wine labels, as well as wine lists and storage. Granted these are high-level summaries, but they are more than adequate introductions to these topics. Novices will definitely feel more comfortable after viewing them, and oenophiles may recall a thing or two they've forgotten along the way.

This part also includes an excellent section on major varietals, with discussions of soils and climates, varietal characteristics, origins, alternative names, and food pairings. The illustrated discussion of wine labels makes excellent use of graphics and multimedia.

But even more valuable than the video clips is the wealth of up-to-date reference material that comprises an easy-to-navigate "World Atlas of Wine," an interactive "Matching Food & Wine" guide, and a comprehensive, A-to-Z "Wine Encyclopedia" with vintage and maturity charts.

The atlas includes 12 country maps and 47 regional maps, 16 of which feature winery locations like Napa, or St-Emilion and Pomerol. The atlas is made extremely useful by its intelligent use of easy-to-access cross references to the encyclopedia. The food-and-wine paring guide contains a plethora of suggestions and includes 600 dishes. The encyclopedia, with 2800 entries, 31 vintage charts, 73 maturity charts, 377 glossary terms, and 387 minor grape varieties, is well written and, like the atlas, intelligently cross-referenced.

Two very useful features that exploit the medium merit attention. First is an interactive wine selector that lets one search the CD for wines based on user-defined selection criteria like wine style, country, star rating, food match, and/or text and create a customized list that can be stored on the hard disk, updated, and printed for later use. The second is the use of audio technology for pronunciation assistance. Most foreign names and wine terms, intimidating to most novices, are accompanied by a speaker icon that when clicked will accurately give you the correct pronunciation in a human voice provided you have a sound card and speakers.

All in all Oz Clarke's Wine Guide 2002 is an excellent reference tool for the novice as well as the advanced wine lover. It's well structured with wine information and PC technology in perfect proportion.

Oz Clarke’s Latest

Oz Clarke’s Introducing Wine
Harcourt, Inc., 2000
ISBN 0 15 100642-3, 144pp, $20.00

Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2001
Harcourt, Inc, 2000
ISBN 0 15 100634-2, 296pp + index, $13.00

On the wine scene these days, the most prolific writer must be Oz Clarke. Yet despite the quantity, there’s plenty of quality in his output. He takes a snob-free approach to his subject and never fails to impart his enthusiasm about wine to his readers.

Oz Clarke’s Introducing Wine is as instructive as it is attractive. For novice wine drinkers and would-be oenophiles looking for an introductory book on wine, I’ve always recommended (and still do suggest) Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course as their first book. Unlike Zraly, however, whose style and organization are more traditional and instructive, Clarke approaches his subject from the perspective of a reader’s personal taste. At the beginning of Part 1, “The Flavours of Wine,” he exhorts the reader to: “Read on and start getting the flavour you want.” The emphasis throughout the book is on the reader’s taste and helping him or her to find the wines that appeal to it. For those wine lovers young enough to have been introduced to learning through “Sesame Street,” Clarke’s primer on wine might be the perfect place to start learning about it.

The book is divided into three parts. The first helps readers find the words to describe their tastes in wine and understand what goes into making it. Using illustrations as vivid as a music video, Clarke goes through 15 different styles of wine from the “juicy, fruity” to the “tangy, fortified.” In the process, he provides the reader with an introduction to the wine-making process and a rather detailed overview of the different varietals.

Part 2, “Enjoying Wine,” covers the practical side of wine drinking. Delivering useful information at a staccato pace, Clarke answers most of the novice’s questions from how to open a bottle to how to read a label. There’s also excellent advice on how to serve wine, what to do with leftovers, learning how to taste, and how to spot a faulty bottle. Two of the most helpful sections succinctly teach the basics of matching food and wine and the fundamentals of reading wine labels. If you’ve ever been intimidated by a wine list, go straight to Clarke’s “Top 10 restaurant tactics.” Indeed, his last tip almost epitomizes his entire approach to the subject, “Enjoy yourself: you’re the one who’s paying.”

The final section, “The World of Wine,” delivers a whirlwind tour through the world’s major wine-growing regions. Replete with informative side bars and high-level maps, it answers the same four down-to-earth questions about each: “Do regions matter?” “Do vintages matter?” “When do I drink them?” “Can I afford them?”

In short, Clarke’s book is like one of those courses you took in school that you used to look forward to, would never cut, and thought the teacher was “cool.”

As I said about last year’s version, Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2001, don’t skip the introductory matter. It’s as entertaining as it is useful. This year’s version has been expanded and includes some new features and remains a useful portable reference book on wine. Use it on your next visit to the wine store to look up a new label or check out a vintage.

The New American Cheese
Profiles of America's Great Cheese Makers and Recipes for Cooking With Cheese
By Laura Werlin
Published by Stewart, Tabori, & Chang;
1-55670-990-0; $35.00 US/$54.00 CAN; May 2000;

“How do I love cheese? Let me count the ways” might well have served as the opening lines of Laura Werlin’s recently published book, The New American Cheese. The author’s passion for her subject, as well as her expertise, is evident on almost every page of this well-researched monograph that profiles America’s new breed of cheese maker and draws attention to the renewed interest in artisan and handcrafted specialty cheeses.

The book starts with an informative introduction to the subject. It includes a brief history of American cheese making that tracks its evolution from the landing of the Mayflower to the present, where it’s found flourishing in states like Wisconsin, California, and New York. Ms. Werlin also discusses some of the new trends, such as American goat and sheep’s milk cheeses, as well as one of the oldest, every kid’s favorite, processed cheese. She then goes on to describe exactly how cheese is made and argues cogently for its healthfulness in our cholesterol-obsessed society.

One of the most interesting sections of the introduction is devoted to teaching the reader how to taste cheese. Here the author makes a distinction between “taste” and “flavor” and calls upon us to use all our senses when evaluating cheeses. She also offers some sage advice on buying and storing it, as well as using it in cooking.

I was also happy to find a detailed discussion on pairing cheese and wine that begins by handily dismissing the notion that one drinks only red wine with cheese. Ms. Werlin argues that white wines “tend to be more cheese friendly” and illustrates her point with both complementary and contrasting cheese and wine pairings. Indeed, her suggestions convinced me to conduct a tasting of my own.

The core of The New American Cheese consists of profiles of more than 50 leading American cheese makers accompanied by 80 well-written and tempting recipes, none of which appeared too daunting. They range from time-honored classics, such as macaroni and cheese and cheese fondue, to contemporary dishes, such as lemon parmesan risotto with asparagus and cranberry-ricotta tarts in toasted almond crust.

Before concluding, I must say that the book is beautifully illustrated with some of the best food photography this reader has ever seen. In fact, the photographs were so appealing that while reading the book over the course of a week, I found myself each night making several trips to the fridge for just another chunk or slice of cheese.

In short, this is an excellent and much needed book on the subject and should appeal to the experienced chef, the cheese lover, and also the occasional nibbler.

Champagne
by Maggie McNie
Faber and Faber, 1999
ISBN 0- 571-17468-X, 196pp, $25.00

If you’re looking for a great coffee table book with beautiful pictures of Champagne vineyards, this may not be the book for you. However, if you’re thirsty for facts and detailed information about Champagne, its history, its makers, and its future, you’ll be more than sated by this monograph.

Though scholarly in style, this book is never dry. Ms. McNie, a Master of Wine, feels that Champagne is a “misunderstood wine” and that it deserves its place next to the great wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. For, she writes, “the greatest champagnes have an elegance, a depth and length of flavor second to none, and great complexity.”

The book begins with an enlightening history of Champagne and a detailed survey of its terrain. We learn more than the usual folklore that surrounds Dom Perignon and the Widow Clicquot. We look at the earliest recorded history of the region and get to know its soil, its climate, and how both influence the eponymous beverage. We learn, for example, why Champagne owes so much to England’s using sea coal rather than oak in the 17th century to fire its glass furnaces, which resulted in a stronger glass that could withstand the pressure of Champagne’s carbon dioxide. The author also takes us through the evolution of production methods and explains the intricacies of viticulture. We get to know exactly how the different varieties of grapes used to make Champagne (predominantly Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier) influence its character. Indeed one of the finest chapters in the book takes us through an entire year in the vineyards and paints a vivid picture of the winemaker’s concerns and struggles.

After reading this short treatise, you will more fully appreciate the subtleties in style, the variations in vintages, and the beauty in the blending that makes Champagne Champagne.

Interestingly, we also get a glimpse of the industry that lurks behind this beverage. One chapter, “The Champagne Trade,” traces the industry’s growth and interdependencies, tax implications, price setting, and the distinctions made among growers and producers. The book also sheds light on the effects of the boom years of the 80s and the subsequent market collapse. It also includes a rather lengthy chapter devoted to informative profiles of many Champagne producers as well as descriptions of their house styles.

The author concludes her study with a useful chapter on serving and storing Champagne and another that attempts to forecast its future. Finally, there are also some excellent appendices, including one that covers all the vintages between 1945 and 1997.

Ms. McNie’s clear and concise style makes for enjoyable reading. Her enthusiasm for the beverage brings a certain effervescence to her scholarship. For the novice, this is a great starting point to learn about Champagne; for the experienced oenophile, it’s the perfect refresher course.

Two New Wine Books from Oz Clarke

Oz Clarke’s New Encyclopedia of Wine
Harcourt Brace and Company, 1999
ISBN 0 15 100565-6, 416pp, $40.00

Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2000
Harcourt Brace and Company, 1999
ISBN 0 15 100571-6, 320pp, $12.00

It’s a wonder that Oz Clarke ever gets a chance to drink wine given the volume of volumes he manages to turn out on the subject each year. But unlike producers of bulk wine, Clarke has consistently managed to maintain high standards and deliver top quality. His two most recent works are Oz Clarke’s New Encyclopedia of Wine and Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2000.

In the tradition of the reference tomes turned out by Alexis Lichine and Hugh Johnson, the Encyclopedia is a reliable compendium of wine knowledge. Although Clarke’s book might not be as detailed as his predecessors’, it presents its subject in a more personal, idiosyncratic style and, as might be expected, is more up to date. It also captures the spirit and adventure of today’s rapidly evolving wine world. "If we weren’t prepared to be adventurous," he writes in the introduction, "wine companies would simply flood us with a sea of Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz/Syrah, gaudy labels, and fantasy names bedecking wines that made no attempt to taste different or individual." Later, in his "A-Z of Wines," he devotes individual sections to the vinicultural revivals in areas like the Languedoc-Roussillion in France, which he calls "the symbol of a modern, liberated, high-tech wine industry for which innovation has become the byword," and the Castilla-Leon in Spain. In addition, topics like "organic wine making" and " biodynamics" that wouldn’t have even been thought about ten or fifteen years ago receive attention.

The opening section of the book "Wine Today" is the perfect introduction to the subject for the neophyte wine drinker and yet should maintain the interest of the experienced oenophile. Its discussions of wine tasting, serving and storing, and of major wine categories (e.g., red, white, sparkling, etc.) are top notch. The "A-Z of Wines, Wine Regions, Producers, and Gape Varieties" makes up the bulk of this reference work. Its handsome and well-designed layout makes it both easy and enjoyable to use. All the major wine districts receive two-page layouts with insightfully written overviews and are illustrated with excellent maps and representative wine labels. In addition, individual grape varieties are described in detail and illustrated in colored sidebars. The book also includes a glossary (which I discuss below) and up-to-date vintage tables.

My only complaints about this book are with a few omissions and with the editing. For example, there’s no entry in either the A-Z or the index for French "clairet," a rose wine that is generally thought to be the source for the English word "claret." In fact, there’s not even an entry or cross-reference for the word "claret" (a British term for Bordeaux) in either place. Indeed, the only place "claret" is defined is in a rather selective three-page glossary at the end of the book. And what’s a glossary doing in an alphabetically arranged encyclopedia?

I would have also liked to see more cross-references. For example, when a new term like "super Tuscan" is used, a cross-reference to its A-Z entry would have been helpful. The index is also lacking. One would hope this book would be re-indexed in future editions. To illustrate, the introduction contains a fine discussion of canopy management; but it’s not indexed. Even the glossary entry does not refer the reader to the discussion. Another example of editing oversight is the fact the Gilles Roux is cited in the introduction for his Beaujolais-Villages but is not included among the "best producers" under the Beaujolais-Village entry in the A-Z.

Aside from my complaints about the editing, I found this book to be chockablock with useful information, beautifully illustrated, and printed in an easy-to-read three-column format on heavy weight glossy paper. Clarke’s style is always engaging and just makes you want to explore the world of wine. Take, for instance, his invitation to sample Australian sparkling red wines. He describes them as "wild things, packed with jammy fruit. You’ll either love them or loathe them, but" he adds, "you haven’t lived until you’ve given them a try." I highly recommend you give this book a try. It’s a great addition to any wine library.

Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2000 falls into the classification of portable reference books. I’ve always loved this format from way back when the first Hugh Johnson Pocket Encyclopedia was introduced. This is a great example of the genre and if you’re looking for one for 2000, you might give it a try. If you opt for this one, be sure to read the introduction. Unfortunately, if you’re like me, we tend to skip the introductory material in these books and go straight to the reviews and the vintages. But if you do, you’ll miss some great writing and wine humor. Clarke lists his personal wine favorites in two lists: The first, "Pick of My Life," is divided into three sections: How, I Started (a biographical list, that includes Gallo Hearty Burgundy along with ’61 Pommery and a ’52 Vieux Chateau-Certan; The Classics or what every Oxford educated wine lover would consider as such, and My Jericho List, or wines that successfully challenged the old order. The second list is "Pick of My After Life." I’ll leave its contents to your imagination.

The fun Clarke has with wine, and that is evident in this book, is the fun we should all have, but unfortunately all too often don’t because of the snobbery and affectation that seems to plague wine writing. This pocket guide is a useful resource and one I won’t leave home without. Or at least I'll try not to.

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