This user-friendly and highly discerning Field Guide focuses on the Golden States most popular and newsworthy wine regionsfrom Napa Valley to the Central Coast to fast-growing Baja. This full-flavored guide will please the palates and temperaments of beginning and experienced wine enthusiasts alike, with all the breadth and expertise readers expect from Sunset. Based on rigorous in-the-field research by two of Sunset magazines most respected staffers, the recommendations are intentionally selective, rather than comprehensive, directing readers only to Californias best wineries and wine-country travel experiences. California Wine Country has all the bells and whistles of a classic travel guide: compact size, gorgeous maps, concise itineraries, and colorful illustrations. Plus easy-to-follow listings for everything from cant-miss wineries to must-see, off-the-path discoveries. And, of course, all the essentials for planning an exceptional trip: information on lodging, restaurants, routes, destinations, and activities.

Customer Review: Very imcomplete

Limited information and so many wineries were left out. Livermore, where I live, has numerous wineries, especially Wente and Concannon which are world renown, was not mentioned at all. Even the areas they mentioned, such as Napa and Sonoma, were not covered as they deserve. I realize that this is a field guide and designed to cover the most "popular" and "newsworthy", but if you are real wine enthusiast, you will probably be as disappointed as I was.

Customer Review: A pick for any California visitor or resident who loves wine and travel.

There are plenty of wine travel books on the market, but what makes CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY special is several attributes. First, a coat-pocket-sized appearance with a hard cover lends to take-along tote and easy consultation, especially the numerous maps and charts with display the latest wine country wineries, hotels, restaurants and more. Review of hundreds of wineries from 11 top regions throughout the state also lend to travelers who plan on going beyond the usual Napa/Sonoma Northern California regions. From suggested touring routes to winery web pages, phones, descriptions of wines and more, CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY is a top field guide not to be missed: a pick for any California visitor or resident who loves wine and travel.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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L'Epicurien has created a selection of delicious fruit confits to accompany your favorite cheeses. This blend of Williams Pear and White Wine from the Pays d'Oc is the perfect pairing with French Roquefort and other Blue Cheeses.

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Breathtaking landscapes filled with castles and churches, picturesque hilltop villages and, best of all, vineyards. This is the Langhe, an area in the Piedmont region of northern Italy that produces some of the world's greatest wines.

A Wine Atlas of the Langhe is a beautiful and highly informative book, produced by the international Slow Food movement, headquartered in Piedmont. For over ten years Slow Food researched the vineyards, the wines, and the history of this fascinating part of the world, including the men and women who have made the wines of the Langhe famous. The book explores the unique features of topography, soils, and climate that have enabled Barolo and Barbaresco to become recognized as two of the world's most exclusive and highly prized wines. Spectacular aerial photography shows the beauty of the fifteen municipalities profiled in the book.

"Eyewitness Reports" sprinkled throughout the book give readers a privileged insight into the rural culture and social life of the Langhe, through the words of the area's oldest residents. Chapters on The Greats of Barolo and Barbaresco detail the lives of pioneer winemakers, including growers, scholars, oenologists, cellarmen, and aristocratic entrepreneurs.

More wine is currently imported to the U.S. from Italy than from any other country. Lovers of Italy or its classic wines will treasure this beautiful book. Travelers to Piedmont will find many recommendations for the best vineyards to visit, as well as the best places to stay and eat while in the region.

Customer Review: Beautiful Book

I don't know much about wine [I sell this book as a bookseller], but I can tell you this large format and thick book is a piece of art. It contains many beautiful photos, has a lovely layout, and feels expensive. I've sold many to wine experts and never had anyone be disappointed by it.

Customer Review: One of the finest wine books available

If you're a lover of nebbiolo wines this book is a must. With relentlessly rich detail, it covers every aspect of the great wines of the Piemonte, their history, viticulture, and the people who make them.

Every major Barolo and Barbaresco vineyard is profiled, along with many of the contributors to the production of their great wines. Not only the great winemakers, past and present, but also the "regular people" involved, from grafters to vine dressers, pickers and barrel makers, even office workers and school teachers have their say. The result is a compelling picture of one of the world's greatest wine regions.

And if you ever plan a trip to the Langhe, the book features excellent advice and contact info on where to visit, what to look for, etc. A great resource.

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L'Epicurien With its homemade style of production, l'epicurien has carried out a cooking process that makes all its preparations slowly simmer in cauldrons. The deep and rich colors of fruits or vegetables, together with their delicate flavors, are deliciously revealed.

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L'Epicurien With its homemade style of production, l'epicurien has carried out a cooking process that makes all its preparations slowly simmer in cauldrons. The deep and rich colors of fruits or vegetables, together with their delicate flavors, are deliciously revealed.

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Customer Review: wine and cheese pairing

gave this book to cheeseexpert within chain of gourmet stores. he will recomend all cheese dep have copys.

Customer Review: Readers are encouraged to understand why they like different flavors, for optimum pairing of the two.

There's over a thousand wines and a thousand cheeses in the world with many possible taste combinations: if you want to take the guesswork out of the process, be sure WINE & CHEESE PAIRING GUIDE: YOUR EXCITING SEARCH FOR WOW! COMBINATIONS is close at hand. It doesn't just recommend specific pairings - though this is included amply in a series of charts - but provides a formula for wine and cheese separately which encourages personal assessment and taste development. Readers are encouraged to understand why they like different flavors, for optimum pairing of the two.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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3 fabulous chutneys, each one designed to pair with a different cheese. And offered with it, a specialzed Cheese knife, made by Berard, with a beautiful olive wood handle. If you want to present this as a gift, we will be happy to gift wrap it for you.

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The history of civilization is, in many ways, the history of wine. This book is the first comprehensive and up-to-date account of the earliest stages of vinicultural history and prehistory, which extends back into the Neolithic period and beyond. Elegantly written and richly illustrated, Ancient Wine opens up whole new chapters in the fascinating story of wine and the vine by drawing upon recent archaeological discoveries, molecular and DNA sleuthing, and the texts and art of long-forgotten peoples.

Patrick McGovern takes us on a personal odyssey back to the beginnings of this consequential beverage when early hominids probably enjoyed a wild grape wine. We follow the course of human ingenuity in domesticating the Eurasian vine and learning how to make and preserve wine some 7,000 years ago. Early winemakers must have marveled at the seemingly miraculous process of fermentation. From success to success, viniculture stretched out its tentacles and entwined itself with one culture after another (whether Egyptian, Iranian, Israelite, or Greek) and laid the foundation for civilization itself. As medicine, social lubricant, mind-altering substance, and highly valued commodity, wine became the focus of religious cults, pharmacopoeias, cuisines, economies, and society. As an evocative symbol of blood, it was used in temple ceremonies and occupies the heart of the Eucharist. Kings celebrated their victories with wine and made certain that they had plenty for the afterlife. (Among the colorful examples in the book is McGovern's famous chemical reconstruction of the funerary feast--and mixed beverage--of "King Midas.") Some peoples truly became "wine cultures."

When we sip a glass of wine today, we recapitulate this dynamic history in which a single grape species was harnessed to yield an almost infinite range of tastes and bouquets. Ancient Wine is a book that wine lovers and archaeological sleuths alike will raise their glasses to.

Customer Review: Very little to "wine" about

Pardon my title; this is an amazing book. Essential for anyone interested in wine history. There was the occasional repetition of certain sentences and phrases that an editor ought to have caught (I'm an editor, I notice these things) but in a nutshell the approach the author uses - "molecular archeaology" - is truly revolutionary. What I like best is that he has confirmed, once and for all, that ancient wines were distinctly different from modern wine, most importantly in the sense that they were infused with a wide variety of substances such as resins, plant matter, spices, and the like. This confirms the textual accounts that have survived, but have largely been ignored or marginalized in a number of fields.

A minor quibble: the author is surprisingly skittish on the matter of the potion of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the "kykeon" and makes no mention of works like The Road to Eleusis, and appears to take the position that the Eleusinian kykeon was a "grog" of the sort mentioned in epic poetry. This is unpersausive; grogs do not produce sublime visions, and the ingredients of the Eleusinian kykeon were water, mint, and barley. No wine was present during initiation into the Greater Mysteries, nor would one expect it given that Demeter refuses wine in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

Customer Review: Utterly fascinating

I cannot remember holding a book in my hands that caused me more excitement and enchantment any time recently. And the best thing of all is that it is not a fairy tale, not even a "romanticized" account of the ancient history of wine; on the contrary, with all the diligence and impartiality of a good CSI detective, this book sticks to evidence and confirmed facts. Still, it manages to weave a compelling story of how wine was intricately connected with the very origins of civilization (or, should I say, civilizations). The book is not only difficult to put down, but as a viticulture and wine educator I find it impossible to ignore when preparing teaching materials. Granted, there is still a lot of uncertainty about certain wine archaeological issues and much more work to be done, but I find that part probably the most exciting. I recommend this book to the viticulture and wine professional and enthusiast alike, as well as anybody interested in archaeology and origins of civilizations.

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KEDEM LEMON COOKING WINE

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