A Hedonist in the Cellar_ Adventures in Wine - Jay McInerney [0]
“[He] provides some of the finest writing on the subject of wine…. Brilliant, witty, comical, and often shamelessly provocative.”
—Robert M. Parker, Jr.
“It is a pleasure to see the wine world through a novelist’s playful eyes, and to feel the infectious joy he finds in great wines, places and personalities from around the world.”
—Eric Asimov, The New York Times
“McInerney has become the best wine writer in America.”
—Salon
“Throughout [A Hedonist in the Cellar], he casts off elegant similes the way John Lennon used to spin gorgeous melodies.… What makes [McInerney] better than a mere wordsmith is his ability to let a concept breathe and then to finish it with the entire idea distilled into a sentence or two.”
—Wes Marshall, The Austin Chronicle
“To the fruity, buttery world of wine writing, there’s nothing else like it.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“We’re fortunate that Jay McInerney has chosen to shower his immense gifts on a new source of pleasure: the grape…. He’s a wry companion who is clearly at home with and enjoying the subject.”
—Danny Meyer
JAY MCINERNEY
A Hedonist in the Cellar
Jay McInerney, whose wine column appears monthly in House & Garden, is the author of seven novels, the most recent of which is The Good Life. The 2006 recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s M.F. K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, he lives in New York City.
ALSO BY JAY MCINERNEY
NONFICTION
Bacchus and Me
FICTION
The Good Life
Model Behavior
The Last of the Savages
Brightness Falls
Story of My Life
Ransom
Bright Lights, Big City
FOR LORA
“I can certainly see you know your wine. Most of the guests who stay here wouldn’t know the difference between Bordeaux and claret.”
—JOHN CLEESE AS BASIL FAWLTY
CONTENTS
Introduction
One FOREPLAY
My Favorite White
Friuli’s Favorite Son: Tocai Friulano
Thin Is In: The New Wave of California Chardonnays
The Whites of the Andes
The Forgotten Whites of Bordeaux
No Respect: Soave
Gray Is the New White: Pinot Gris
Translating German Labels
Two “ALL WINE WISHES IT COULD BE RED”
The Shedistas of Santa Barbara
The Roasted Slope of the Rhône
The House Red of the Montagues and the Capulets
“An Extreme, Emotional Wine”: Amarone
Cape Crusaders: South African Reds
The Black Wine of Cahors
Major Barbera
Go Ask Alice: The Dark Secret of Bandol
The Spicy Reds of Chile
Malbec Rising
Personality Test: Julia’s Vineyard
Three HOW TO IMPRESS YOUR SOMMELIER
How to Impress Your Sommelier, Part One: German Riesling
No More Sweet Talk, or How to Impress Your Sommelier, Part Two: Austrian Riesling
The Semi-Obscure Treasures of Alsace
The Discreet Charms of Old-Style Rioja
The Mysterious Beauty of Sagrantino di Montefalco
Four LOVERS, FIGHTERS, AND OTHER OBSESSIVES
Oedipus at Hermitage: Michel Chapoutier
Ghetto Boys: Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton Get Radical
Jilted Lover: Auberon Waugh
The Obsessive: Remírez de Ganuza
Berkeley’s French Ambassador: Kermit Lynch
The Mad Scientist of Jadot
Voice in the Wilderness: Willy Frank and the Finger Lakes
Finessing the Fruit Bombs
Mountain Men: The Smith Brothers of Smith-Madrone
Do the Brits Taste Differently? Michael Broadbent and Jancis Robinson
Robert Mondavi’s Bizarro Twin: The Passions and Puns of Randall Grahm
Five EXPENSIVE DATES
First Among Firsts? The Glories of Cheval-Blanc
The Name’s Bond
“A Good and Most Perticular Taste”: Haut-Brion
The Maserati of Champagne
Bacchanalian Dreambook: The Wine List at La Tour d′Argent
Six MATCHES MADE IN HEAVEN
Fish Stories from Le Bernardin
What to Drink with Chocolate
Provençal Pink
Odd Couples: What to Drink with Asian Food
Seven BIN ENDS
Baby Jesus in Velvet Pants: Bouchard and Burgundy
Strictly Kosher
Body and Soil
New Zealand’s Second Act
Eight BUBBLES AND SPIRITS
Number Two and Bitching Louder: Armagnac
White on White: Blanc de Blancs Champagne
Monk Business: The Secrets of Chartreuse
Tiny Bubbles: Artisanal Champagnes
The Wild Green Fairy: Absinthe
EPILOGUE
What I Drank on