Wine Book Club “Spin the Bottle” selection: Wine Across America

Friends, it’s time, once again, to play…

[Studio audience chants in unison]

…Spin! That! Wine Bottle!!

[Feigned hysteria]

Today our contestants are: wine book authors from Earth! And to start things off right, let’s give our bottle a good spin, shall we?

[Background swell of vacuum racking equipment, clacking and humming merrily]

Yes, friends! Round and round the bottle goes! Where it stops, somebody glows! And today’s winner is (barrel roll, please!): Why, it’s Wine Across America: A Photographic Road Trip by Charles O’Rear and Daphne Larkin! And they’re most deserving, I can assure you!

[Wink, tilt of head, toothy grin and grudgingly perceptible sincerity from our show's emcee as he proudly displays The Book]

So friends, just what is Wine Across America, you ask? Is it a collective wine blogger reaction to presidential politics? Is it the latest Fifth Avenue color ensemble for newly-decanted 20-something fashionistas? Could it be a continent-wide reservoir filled with wine?

Stay tuned, America, as we examine these questions – and more! – right after we break for these words…

[Fade to ubiquitous male-enhancement car commercial]

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For wine lovers in any of America’s 50 states, the lovely coffee table book that is Wine Across America isn’t your standard wine read. Indeed, if you’re really into learning about wine, this won’t be the first book you’ll reach for. But chances are you know somebody in your life – perhaps a few somebodies – who don’t have much of a clue about wine – its origins, its growing American appeal, or the passion behind all that goes into making wine. That’s why it is precisely the kind of book for the people in your life who don’t quite understand why you, as a wine lover, feel the way you do about wine.

And so, being the perfect coffee table book – and therefore an easy read – you could do well to have this book on hand for those times when you entertain family and guests who may enjoy wine, and may just find themselves attracted to its lovely photography.

For it is photography that this book showcases, in spades. After all, Charles O’Rear is a skilled photographer with a long-time emphasis on the world’s wine regions. And Daphne Larkin is a writer who specializes in conjuring words that describe all things wine. Together, this husband-and-wife team embarked on a two-year cross-country jaunt that covered 80,000 miles of American road so that they could record the country’s growing love affair with wine.

Come to think of it, this book should be a wine table book! But we’ll leave that to the wine feng shui practitioners. Suffice to say that for the newbie, Wine Across America may just have the ability to open a new – and quite personal – door to the nation’s wine country.

Indeed, this book can open many doors, as this centerfold depicting a number of America’s barrel room entrances can attest. Interestingly – if only to me – I’ve actually sauntered through four of them. Maybe five.

Charles O’Rear’s photos range from the artful…

…thru the intricate yet functional (note the shot glasses as bunghole covers)…

…from landscapes of Spring Mountain in California’s Napa Valley…

…to a tasting room scene many of us are familiar with.

Gee, I think I know that guy in the ballcap, getting a second pour from a presumably harried tasting room staffer. I would probably have offered that glass to the blonde standing nearby. It’s likely, however, that I would have quickly embarrassed myself by aiming for the spittoon and missing.

Not that the derisive laughter of pretty young women bothers me. Anymore.

Yep, there’s a story in every shot. Or, you can simply view this book as a nice, light flipper-througher. So if you’re thinking that you want to begin educating visiting friends and family about wine, this book is a fine place to start, and a stomping good time!

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The Wine Book Club (WBC) is hosted by Dr. Debs of Good Wine Under $20 and Tim Elliott of Winecast. WBC is a relatively recent phenomenon, having hosted the first of its blogger-inspired bimonthly group reviews in early March (see David McDuff’s round-up of Vino Italiano). Spin The Bottle wine book reviews like the one above are occasional individual contributions to the WBC.

I purchased Wine Across America: A Photographic Road Trip in early January, 2008 from Amazon.com for about $23 plus shipping and it arrived at my home six days later. Today it boasts a conspicuous and well-thumbed residence on my boomerang table, a place where many wine glasses have resided.

~winehiker

Related posts:

• Face the wine, book a night out, do vinogeekspeak
• Just one week left to win that bottle of Dominus
• Win a bottle of 2004 Dominus Estate from The Winehiker

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 8:40 am and is filed under book reviews, grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.