Three Books, 2012, reviewed

S

SFJoe

Joe Dougherty
Eric Asimov has a brief review of three significant wine books in the NYT today.

I have read at least parts of two of the three, and largely agree with Eric's take. The Jancis book is a geek's thrill, with lucid, amusing descriptions of the grapes and wines, and a tsunami of DNA data about the crazy relationships among varieties. Fascinating. Don't drop it on your toe.

As we've mentioned in passing elsewhere, Liem and Barquín's Sherry book is also a real treat. Very clearly articulated and explained (though frankly, even after explanation, Palo Cortado is a bit of a headscratcher for me), and politely but firmly critical of sherry as it is often produced today, Jesús and Peter give great food for thought.

Peter is the great scholar of brilliant industrial wines, isn't he?

Anyhow, read them both.

I'd be interested to hear what people think of the Australian book, if anyone has dipped a toe.
 
What kind of analysis of the genetics did they do?

Did they do lineage trees? I'd like to see that. Eric and I were talking about doing that with the old massale at Brezeme. That would be cool.

From what I learned in Sherry country, Palo Cortado sort of means one thing, but can kinda be whatever you want, as long as it's really good.
 
originally posted by VLM:
What kind of analysis of the genetics did they do?

Did they do lineage trees? I'd like to see that. Eric and I were talking about doing that with the old massale at Brezeme. That would be cool.

From what I learned in Sherry country, Palo Cortado sort of means one thing, but can kinda be whatever you want, as long as it's really good.
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Well, there's what it meant and what it means. The latter is an even grayer area since no one believes it just happens accidentally anymore but that's still the party line.

But my current understanding is that if a cask has an unexpectely rich body (which is not considered desirable for fino) then they will add enough alcohol to kill the flor (this may require several applications or "cortados"). So like Amontillado it spends some time under flor but unlike Amontillado they don't wait for the flor to die off before the oxidative aging begins.

While this was not stated explicitly in the book I wonder if this might be caused by the flor not eating all the glycerol?
 
originally posted by VLM:
What kind of analysis of the genetics did they do?

Did they do lineage trees? I'd like to see that. Eric and I were talking about doing that with the old massale at Brezeme. That would be cool.

From what I learned in Sherry country, Palo Cortado sort of means one thing, but can kinda be whatever you want, as long as it's really good.
Click to expand...
Yes, they do the family trees of each grape to the extent it's known. It's a timely book because a lot of this work has been done.

You would need different markers to pursue old massale, the search within a single cultivar would be much finer-grained.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:

While this was not stated explicitly in the book I wonder if this might be caused by the flor not eating all the glycerol?
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I also thought that might be the case.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:

I'd be interested to hear what people think of the Australian book, if anyone has dipped a toe.
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Me too, but it's not scheduled to be released for another month so I'll have to wait until the preorders are shipped ($32 on amazon right now).

Max Allen is one of my favorite Aussie wine writers (Campbell Mattinson is another I pay attention to). I've never seem him as much of a poster child for the Oz-tentatious style of overblown, overworded, overdescriptorized school of wine writing, so I expect this book to be an informative and interesting read, if not the ultimate reference work.

-Eden (why is it that the more wine books I buy, the less I feel I understand about wine? I'll probably wind up buying the Sherry book too, along with Jancis' latest tome and then really feel stupid)
 
I would have liked to buy the Sherry book but cannot find it on any of the amazons. Any hints (particularly for European sellers)?
 
originally posted by Odd Rydland:
I would have liked to buy the Sherry book but cannot find it on any of the amazons. Any hints (particularly for European sellers)?
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I found a reference in another thread. Seems they don't ship outside the US. A pity.
 
originally posted by Odd Rydland:
I would have liked to buy the Sherry book but cannot find it on any of the amazons. Any hints (particularly for European sellers)?
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I would email them from the website and see if they have a way.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Odd Rydland:
I would have liked to buy the Sherry book but cannot find it on any of the amazons. Any hints (particularly for European sellers)?
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I would email them from the website and see if they have a way.
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Or email or call Chambers or Crush. It might be slow, and maybe expensive, but I bet they'd be happy to sell and mail a copy to you.
 
And if for any reason they can't let us know and I'd be willing to buy one and ship to you.

I've already loaned my copy out.
 
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