This is the third edition of this popular guidebook to the Napa Valley. First published in 2003, this latest version by local author Mick Winter includes 252 pages of detailed information on restaurants, wineries, lodging, spas, parks and camping, sightseeing, shopping, events, arts and entertainment. Additional sections cover historic attractions, a list of Napa Valley wineries, and a special 50-page supplement on Napa Valley wines, vineyards, winemaking, wine tasting, understanding a wine label, and a glossary of wine terms and pronunciation. The book also includes photographs of key locations throughout the valley and more than 700 website links.

Customer Review: To see Napa, see this book

Whether you live in or visit the Napa Valley, you can rely on this guide. My copy of the previous edition is heavily flagged and underlined because there is so much to do and see here. Now that I have the new edition, my future house guests will benefit as much as I. While I wish the review of the Lobster Shack gave more menu details and were as enthusiastic about the restaurant as my local and visiting friends and I are, we always consult the Napa Valley Book to plan our itinerary. And the guide never fails us. You can make the most of the valley if you make the most of this book.

Customer Review: 3rd Edition the Best

The latest version is even better, more detail, more wine info, more listings, and still a pleasure to read. Using the suggestions pays off nicely, but just reading and day-dreaming is pretty good, too.

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Customer Review: A review of Wagners "Grapes into Wine"

A great compliment to Wagner's "A wine Growers Guide".

These two books are virtually bibles to the grape grower and amateur winemaker. If you have one, you will no doubt enjoy and use the other as well. "A wine growers guide" has helped me immensely in establishing my seven acre vinifera vineyard near the Southeast shore of Lake Erie. "Grapes Into Wine" is as absorbing and informative as the previous work.

Customer Review: Nice exposition on the history and process of winemaking

Philip Wagner's death in 1997 was a loss to the winemaking community. Wagner lived through a broad period of wine history. His significant life experience spans prohibition through an illustrious life as a successful commercial winemaker. Wagner practiced what he preached. His life honors a love for the grape and the art of turning grapes into wine. His book, "Grapes into Wine," chronicles the history of winemaking told from the perspective of one who knows the subject. This book is not a step-by-step guide towards the process of making a fine wine; it's an exposition on the history and high-level science of grapes and grape growing (viticulture) and the cultivation of grapes, and the manufacture of wine (viniculture). Wagner explains the origins of winemaking, from its earliest documented sources to the present. He describes the early French winemaking period, the effects of phylloxera and other diseases that practically wiped-out this industry, the emergence of east and west coast American wine making, prohibition, and winemaking in the modern world. He then delves into the process of winemaking, both commercially and in small lots. Sugar and bacterial (malolactic) fermentation are described historically and as a modern process. He discusses the entire process of winemaking, from pitching the yeast, to racking, cold stabilizing, fining, and finally bottling. Common pitfalls are cited with a description of how these problems are addressed on a small and large scale. Different wine types are discussed, including dry, sparkling, fortified, and sweet. The book ends with a brief discussion about wine tasting. A number of Appendices are also included as are numerous pictures that give a glimpse into historical periods, people, tools and machinery, and places. While Wagner describes the winemaking process in some detail, it's not written as a guide towards making wine. For this, I'd suggest Jon Iverson's book, "Home Winemaking Step-by-Step." Iverson takes amateur winemakers by the hand and guides them through the necessary steps towards the creation of a finished table wine. Wagner's book describes this process topically, touching on the details but not describing them in a step-by-step fashion. The cover of this book states, "A newly written, completely up-to-date version of his now-classic American Wines and Wine-making, with new maps, charts, and illustrations." I think this was true at one time, but from my perspective in 2003, this book more closely reflects the 1976 revision. For example, p.64 shows a chart of California wine production from 1956 to 1973 in millions of gallons. Yet on the p.67 a 1982 note references how production has increased in 1980. It seems this note was inserted to make it more current while the preceding text was left untouched. I would rather have seen the chart updated to include wine production into the 1980s or 1990s rather than end in 1973. Eliminate the note and update the text and graphic. Much of the book is from the perspective of 1976. This aside, Wagner's book is a superbly valuable text. I don't mean to give the impression it is sorely outdated; it's not outdated in a way that degrades the value of what he has written. Wagner has documented a snapshot of history and I have enjoyed the book immensely. Many chapters I've read numerous times. I especially enjoy the chapters on the history of viniculture and viticulture. Wagner is gifted in his historical knowledge and I think these beginning chapters are the book's crowning achievement. Highly recommended, I only wish Wagner was alive to provide an update that includes a look into the 21st Century.

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Customer Review: All You Never Knew There Was To Know About The South

Be warned: This is not for the casual reader; Belfrage goes into levels of detail heretofore unknown regarding Tuscany, Puglia, Sicily, and the rest of the South. He seems to have visited every producer in Italy, and to have traced (where possible) the origins of every grape he comes across--and he comes across quite a few that you won't find in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Wine or in Jancis Robinson's "Vines, Grapes & WInes." I have a special place in my heart for the unfortunate Nuragus, the most widely planted grape in Sardinia, of which Belfrage says "Nuragus probably has little or nothing to do with Trebbiano Toscano, as the ampelographer Cettolini would have us believe, but it does share an inability to rise above a certain fairly basic level of mediocrity winewise..." If you have to look up "ampelographer," you are probably going to find this book heavy going.

On the other hand, it's not like you need to know to enjoy the book. Belfrage is a good writer, a terrific reporter, and has the added benefit of being honest. He's got some commercial connections in Italy, and he's very straightforward about stating them.

His overall take on the slowness of southern Italy to rally to the cause of quality over quantity is astutely observed: He has no love for Italian Bureaucracy, EU bureaucracy, or the Mafia. All three, he says, conspire to prevent progress.

Anyway, if, like me, you find it is actually important to know that the wide variability in quality in Chianti is as much due to clonal selection as anything else, you'll greatly enjoy Mr. Belfrage's company.

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Customer Review: so nice!

I purchased this book as a gift and my husband loves it so much! This book is just perfect, full of pictures, you know, so you can locate Borbeaux or Champagne! It gives a really good general idea on the wine world and is full of informations. After our last trip to Lyon, France my husband decided to learn more about wines and this book is the perfect first step for someone who is wanting to learn.
Great buy.

Customer Review: Very worthwhile.

We saw this book on someone else's table, and picked it up. Couldn't stop reading it and now we have our own copy. Lots of wonderful information. Well worth having.

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There is a Dominican spirituality which is entirely distinctive and is inspired by the great Saint St Dominic himself. The Dominican Order of Friars was founded specifically to engage with the world-not to live in contemplative seclusion. There has always been a strong intellectual strain in the Dominican tradition. Like St Thomas Aquinas and Edward Schillebeeckx some of the greatest Christian thinkers have been Dominicans.

With the conviction that Dominican spirituality is for everyone and for people of all sorts and conditions, Paul Murray OP has written a charming and forceful short book. The Gospel invites us to taste a new wine- a wine of ever lasting joy. Indeed Christian belief is supposed to make people happy. One reason so many in society today feel unfulfilled and are not happy is because the vision of life we are offered is one that is restricted to a pragmatic one dimensional view of the world. The Dominican path is truly broad and joyous and here Paul Murray makes available some of the different voices from the whole of the Dominican tradition. Much emphasis is laid on the order's motto - Truth. Christian life is concerned with exploring the truth-not just objective thuth of propositions but the truth within ourselves which is the truth that will make us free.

In this gentle and persuasive book, rthe author points to the underlying presence of God joy in our work and leisure but above all in our view and understanding of ourselves.

Customer Review: The Best Book on Dominicans in a Long Time

This book should be on the shelf of every Dominican, and every person that is interested in the Dominican Order. Fr. Murray brings recaptures the joy, enthusiasm and zeal of the first days of the Order in such a way that we can learn from our Dominican Brothers and Sisters for today.

A beautiful, rich, poetic, substantial book!

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Michelin The Green Guide Wine Regions of France

Customer Review: Very Helpful Wine Region Guide of France

This guide book covers various regions of France including less known regions and contains from basic wine information to beginners to more advanced information for well-experienced travelers. I have traveled to certian wine regions in France a number of times in the past but still find this book very helpful and informative.

Customer Review: Fabulous Travel Guide for France: Many Off the Beaten Path Attractions

I got this book as adjunct to my Frommer's France Guide, but ended up using it as my main tour guide. We weren't primarily doing a wine tour (would have loved to do more, but with three kids along, couldn't do that much). But, as it turns out, almost all of France is a wine region so the book pretty much encompassed every place we went. But what made it really valuable is all the off-the-beaten path tourist attractions it covered. For instance, through this guide we found: Monkey Mountain in Alsace (Barbary Macacques from North Africa, wandering amongst humans in a wooded enclosure), the prehistoric cave of Aze with bones of cave bears and an underground river (not mentioned in Frommer's -- local people in Beaune, 45 minutes away didn't even know about it!), and, best of all, a wine-tasting Chateau in Savigny-les-Beaunes with an attached Motocross and Aviation Museum (head to the museum kids, we'll be along in a while!) I couldn't believe what a great guide it turned out to be for a family trip.

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Here is a quick, fun and easy guide to the world of Spanish Wine. Written by an author who has immersed himself in Spanish culture and its wine over the past fifteen years, this book will give anyone interested in the subject an enjoyable introduction to this fascinating member of the wine world. Important features include: Brief history. Easy-to-follow rundown on Spanish Wine. Basics on understanding Spanish Wine. Wine regions listed by wine types (reds, whites, sparkling wine, sherry). Fun descriptive introduction to each region. Map of each region. Overview of all major wine regions (D.O.) and many minor ones (V.T.). Up-to-date rating of D.O. vintages. Winery-by-winery listings: includes wines, price range, personal recommendations and website addresses. Local gastronomy - insights into the foods of each region. Local anecdotes - fun and interesting facts about this wonderful country and its wine. Glossary of terms. Alphabetical listing of all wines mentioned.

Customer Review: Spanish wine

I have been to Spain a couple of times and this book is pretty informative and accurate from my experience.

Customer Review: A Spanish Wine Travelogue

It appears the author published this guide himself, which might have been necessary due to the folksy conversdational style in which it was written. An uninformed reader would likely lack confidence in the superficial evaluations of the recognized wine regions and the numerous producers. However, Murdock's solidly positive comments on those wines I have actually sampled so far match my own opinions, which leads me to believe his evaluations are really quite sound. The book is easy to use and should allow me to discover additional wines I might enjoy, which is the main reason why one buys this kind of guide. There can be no doubt that Spanish wines represent great value and provide interesting taste and style variances from the better publicized California, French, Italian, and Australian varietals. On the whole, this guide is a very goof value.

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While interrogating a penniless delinquent about a sordid crime, Maigret is called to the scene of an utterly different murder, one of the richest wine merchants in Paris is dead.

"Georges Simenon's Chief Inspector Maigret belongs to the Paris of today as surely as Holmes did to gaslit London." (The New York Times)

Customer Review: Another Droll and Very Good Maigret!

You can tell this is a later Maigret, with references to TV, and certain flu rememdies, though Mrs. Maigret does prefer the old fashioned cures. Simenon rarely describes a crime in all its bloody detail, rather making the reader feel the circumstances behind the deed. Here the victim, a self- made wine merchant, elicits virtually no sympathy from anyone, and the cause turns out to be financial resentment and bullying, among the author's more common reasons for the crime. As usually, we get a fine sense of Paris with all its seedy and hi-class neighborhoods, and terrific short descriptions and comments by and about the very realistic personages, not least the detective, his wife, the other polices, as well as the culprit, who we meet at the very end. A Maigret book is always a fine way to spend a few hours, visiting Paris, its people and neighborhoods, and its fine detective.

Customer Review: Another winner from the series

As Inspector Maigret says himself, "I have never come across a more unsavory crowd than have turned up in this case!" And so it is in the tale of "Maigret and the Wine Merchant," the 70th of 75 full-length books in the detective series. And despicable the characters are too, from the victim -- the wine merchant who made it a point of bragging about sleeping with the wives of his employees -- to the killer and everyone else in their circle. It's musical beds and thievery and blackmail and the devil take the hindmost. But Maigret, working in his usual low-key manner, sorts it all out and comes to the proper conclusion. There's a good bit of Maigret in Peter Falk's Columbo. Simenon doesn't waste the reader's time or slow down the pace of his stories with unnecessary detail and description. It took me under three hours to read this 187 page book. The most attention to detail we get is about Maigret's penchant for the pipe and his suffering due to a bad cold or the flu or maybe even quinsy. He's a bit of a hypochondriac. Otherwise, it's a straightforward yarn, and I believe one of the best of the series.

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Italy has probably the richest variety of wines of any country in the world. Every one of the country's twenty regions produces a unique selection of wines, often made with grapes used nowhere else for wine-making. Stephen Hobley describes Italy's most important wine-producing areas, gives the background to the wines, and provides a guide to visiting the best producers. Hundreds of wineries that welcome visitors are listed, together with their addresses, telephone and fax numbers, Web sites, and opening times.

Customer Review: Good book

The book arrived on time and the condition matched how the seller described in Amazon.

Customer Review: A brief overview of a subject that needs more detailed information

There is a much better book that has much more information about this subject: The Italian Wine Guide by the Touring Guide of Italy.

This book is too short to give the kind of information you will need to actually visit some Italian wine regions and the wineries themselves. There are only a few pages devoted to each region with very little specifics given about visiting individual wineries. There are some nice pictures included. Think of this book as a useful overview for someone who knows nothing about the subject but don't rely on it as your sole source of information.

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Nourished by an admiration of Khayyam that has been with him since childhood, Aminrazavi's comprehensive new biography reintroduces the figure of Khayyam, and his great achievements, to the Western world. Blending a readable and accessible narrative with scholarly ambition and years of research, Aminrazavi's work covers not only Khayyam's well-known poetry, but also his extraordinary life, his neglected philosophical writings and the impact of his work in the West. It features a variety of supporting material, including original translations and the full text of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyyat, and will prove an ideal biography for those who want to know more about the poets inspired by Rumi.

Customer Review: enlightened reading

The seems to be a lot of redundancy in the first part of the book but the overall information, history and review of the philosophy is well presented.
A very interesting book and enjoyable to read.

Customer Review: The Ultimate Treatise on Khayyam

I am a filmmaker who spent 7 years making a feature film about the legendary mathematician, astronomer, poet of Persia, Omar Khayyam. I cannot think of another book published in this world that gives a more complete and thorough understanding of Khayyam. Dr. Aminrazavi's book is a scholarly masterpiece that illuminates the reader's mind with well researched, solid facts debunking the myths surrounding Khayyam. Each chapter clearly lays out the author's own struggle with what is fact and what is fiction. The book also explores Khayyam's vast influence on literature in the West. If there is anyone out there who wants an encyclopedic look into the mind of the 11th Century genius with the soul of a poet, look no further...purchase Wine of Wisdom today!

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