photo credit: Viktor Budnik

Caitlin Stansbury

Caitlin Stansbury is a force.

L.A.'s busiest wine consultant has become its most recent wine author with the debut of Wineocology, a wine-appreciation manual steeped in exclamatory energy. The book is a culmination of years of experience on the dining floors of myriad local restaurants, where Stansbury has been consulted as part fixer, part auditor, part drill sergeant and part cheerleader, all gathered beneath a wine-geek umbrella.

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Patrick Comiskey

Drinking wine is not the sort of activity known to inspire scholarship. The pleasures of writing and the pleasures of wine seem to work mostly at cross-purposes, despite the latter's renowned capacity for loosening tongues. But several books on wine's history, as well as its appreciation, hit the bookshelves this year, making an especially rich trove to draw from for the wine lover in your family this Christmas.

In Divine Vintage: Following the Wine Trail from Genesis to the Modern Age, Master of Wine Joel Butler and biblical scholar Randall Heskett trace the role of wine through the ancient world, both as a historical beverage and as, you might say, a literary plot device. The book is broken into two halves, one reflecting wine's role in the Bible, the other exploring in a leisurely way the holy lands where vineyards and wine are still an important part of the culture.

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Perigee Books

The Curious World Of Wine

In The Curious World of Wine today, uncorking a bottle is often more an invitation for criticism than enjoyment. Was that $15 bottle worth a repeat buy? Did the pricey Pinot Noir you served for Thanksgiving do your heritage turkey justice?

In his new book, Richard Vine, an industry consultant and Professor of Enology Emeritus at Purdue University, promises to provide a more "fascinating miscellany about the colorful characters, celebrated places, and quirky events surrounding winemaking," according to the book jacket flap. Sure, Vine (a handy last name) includes a handful of softball sidebars, perhaps better suited to his former college-age students, on topics such as why drinking wine with a good meal is better than sex ("Condoms aren't required to eat or drink and there's never a risk of pregnancy").

But primarily, the book is filled with curiosity-driven insights for the wine enthusiast. If you're underwhelmed by the glut of criticism in the wine market today, this pocket guide might just bring you back to those moments of wineglass-toasting fun. Get more after the jump.

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amazon

Aspirin, caffeine, blowfish. What really cures a 2012 hangover (Happy, happy by the way)? We're going with cheap -- but good -- wine.

Sure, 'tis this time of year for New Year's resolution cliches. But as wine journalist Natalie MacLean is well aware, the key is finding those bargain wines that actually are worth a second sip. In her latest book, Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World's Best Bargain Wines, MacLean offers up her personal winery tasting experiences followed by tips for seeking out wine bargains in various regions. You know, the typical practical wine advice set up. Only these wines, and the prose, are good.

And so those Reisling bargains (Dr. Loosens' Dr. L Reisling is her top pick) are revealed after MacLean shares her wine travel tastings to Germany (Chapter two). Each chapter is followed by food pairings (Brie, duck pate, smoked trout and sure, fried chicken with a dry Riesling) and further reading suggestions for each varietal she explores (The Wines of Germany, Riesling Renaissance).

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amazon

Not because Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg co-authored it, though that would be reason enough. But because their latest book is good. Very good. And it's organized like their books Culinary Artistry and What to Drink with What You Eat -- classics for every thoughtful cookbook shelf. Like those books, The Food Lover's Guide To Wine is arranged logically and simply. It's also remarkably Twitter-friendly in its concise wine descriptions considering the couple first began writing in their signature reference-type style more than fifteen years ago.

In their latest book, you'll find plenty of meaty Cabernet commentaries, but also a history of American winemaking in timeline form that includes these pivotal moments:

Thomas Jefferson plants his first vineyards at Monticello (1774); Julia Child's first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking is published with wine recommendations for many recipes (1961), President Obama reportedly at one time had a 1,000-bottle wine cellar in his Chicago home (2008). You know, the fun stuff.

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With all the rumors about Joe Bastianich and Eataly L.A. last week, we thought it a fine time to check in on Bastianich's latest book, Grandi Vini: An Opinionated Tour of Italy's 89 Finest Wines.
Bastianich is, as the book's press release reminds us, "co-owner of twenty [mostly Italian] restaurants, an Italian wine producer with three vineyards in Italy, as well as partner in Eataly New York, the groundbreaking [Italian] artisanal food and wine marketplace." All good reasons this book should stink of wine funk self promotion, as in theory, the more the American public learns to appreciate (and purchase) Italian wine, the more Bastianich's restaurants, wineries and retail outlets benefit.

Fortunately, he takes more of a generalist's storytelling approach -- yes, cult wines like Ornellaia's Masseto are profiled, but more broadly, not a specific vintage -- that feels more like Bastianich is celebrating wineries he truly admires (many with hundreds of years of history behind them), rather than padding his own pockets. It is indeed a solid book, even if we take issue with some wineries left out of his "finest wines" title. Turn the page for more.

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artandscience/Flickr

There's no sin in Zin--particularly the cozy, relatively smooth sort frequently produced in Paso Robles. This coming weekend, March 18-20, the region will celebrate vines both old and new at the Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival where more than 50 wineries will play host to a variety of events. Spicy zin-heads will particularly wish to buy tickets for Saturday's massive tasting and auction at the Paso Robles Event Center.

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On first flip-through, Jonathon Alsop's new Wine Lover's Devotional: 365 Days of Knowledge, Advice, and Lore for the Ardent Aficionado sounds like little more than a book playing off page-a-day calendars.

It is. Alsop makes it clear in the introduction that the book was intentionally "organized as a day minder, with entries creating a complete year's worth of information." But he adds that "the most important thing to remember is that you can use this book however you want." Once you do just that -- force yourself to get over the cheesy day minder format -- the Wine Lover's Devotional is an engaging desk guide to wine. The trick is figuring out exactly which wine lovers (first time sippers, not-quite-beginners, everyday wine drinkers?) the book is best suited for.

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Before you buy a wine book, you really should figure that little detail out. Are you more the Good, Better, Best gimme-the-best-wine-already type, or more of a Sommelier Prep Course pensive swirling soul? Hopefully this Squid Ink review of two recent wine book titles will help you find your pouring point.

In the cookbook world, things are fairly simple. Get past the gorgeous photos, or alternatively, the church pot luck spiral binding, and it all comes down to one thing: would you cook those dishes or not? But in the world of swirl and spit, there are two distinct sippers: the drinkers, and the pontificators. Note that we don't favor one or the other; sometimes you just want to drink, on other dinner occasions, it's nice to think. Fine. But deep down, which are you?

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