The story of wine-history.

In some respects, Vintage: The Story of Wine is the companion book to the masterful 1989 Hugh Johnson television series, Vintage: A History of Wine and it is what I am currently reading.
I just love the way Hugh Johnson writes, I really do.  Hugh's inimitable style of wine-writing (once again, I can hear him narrating this book in my head), is simply a joy to read; it is articulate, conversational, learned, eloquent and fun.  Mr. Johnson's writing is, dare I say it, intoxicating.  I don't think there will ever be another wine-writer as good as Hugh.

World Book Day.

Today is the 20th anniversary of World Book Day: a day designated by UNESCO to celebrate books, authors and reading.
I wanted to celebrate some of my personal favourite wine books which, over the years, I have read again and again.  There is a handful of wine books that I continually return to and use as reference books.  (My list of books dedicated to the topic of viticulture is actually bigger.)  And some I just read for fun.
A special mention, once more, has to be given to the book Wine by Hugh Johnson.  That particular book, a gift when I was 17 years old (thank you, Thud), started my interest in all things wine.  And eventually viticulture. Wine is definitely one of my favourite books of all time, written by my favourite wine writer.  Thanks, Hugh.

A little book of horrors.

I am always looking for good viticulture reference books and my brand new copy of Vitibook just happens to be a great one.  Written by Diego Barison et al., Vitibook was actually published last year, however, I only just learnt about it.  I had contacted Glenn McCourty, who is a Viticulture & Plant Science Advisor at the U.C. Davis Cooperative Extension for Lake and Mendocino counties (on the advice of wine columnist Dan Berger), to ask if he knew of any published data on Vitis clonal selections that are available to the grapegrower.  And yes, he did.
Vitibook is a little gem of a book out of Italy that is just perfect for a vino-geek like me.  The book is very thorough in its coverage of grapevine morphology and phenology and it includes interesting statistical data about grape-growing regions around the world.  The section on clones is informative and is exactly what I was looking for.  It is the horrifyingly graphic chapters on grapevine diseases and pests that really make this book worth owning.  Replete with full colour photographs that document all sorts of grape maladies and creepy-crawlies, it is a small wonder that anyone would ever decide to develop a vineyard at all.  Frightening.
Vitibook is a wonderful addition to my modest collection of all-things-grapey-reference books.

Taste this!

I have at my disposal a fairly decent selection of wine related books that I frequently refer to when writing this blog.  Or when I need a refresher on the role of potassium ions in the guard cells that regulate the opening and closing of grape-leaf stomata.  Or something like that.  God bless the internet, but I must confess that I often prefer the physicality of looking something up in a book.  However, I think my modest reference library is beginning to show its age.  Just recently, in need of a quick explanation of the taste of umami, I pulled the six books I thought would most likely give me a simple definition of this gustatory sensation.  But to no avail, I do not own one book that contains a single word on the subject.
I first heard mention of umami, the fifth taste that receptor cells on the human tongue can detect, the other four being bitter, salty, sour and sweet, several years ago when I was taking a Fundamentals of Enology class at Napa Valley College.  The instructor mentioned umami in passing and then quickly moved on.  It didn't seem important, but lately it's been popping up everywhere.
Generally described as being savoury, meaty or brothy, umami can apparently be found in wine.  In fact, any food or beverage that undergoes fermentation contains elevated levels of umami. But what does it actually taste of?  Don't ask me, I'm really not quite sure.  But fear not, the apparently delicious, but elusive taste has been captured in a tube of paste.  Laura Santtini's Taste #5 lists as it's three main ingredients; tomato paste, garlic and anchovy paste - the last ingredient most likely responsible for the elevated concentrations of glutamates and ribonucleotides that are supposedly responsible for the umami taste. Mmmm...all sounds so appetising, doesn't it?  A quick squeeze of this self described "flavor bomb" may make it into my next batch of Bolognese sauce. Then again, maybe it won't.