My favorite book of 2014?
Difficult to choose but this one for me takes the prize. If you like wine and you love France or is it the other way round, if you love France and well you have to be a wine lover of course– the ghost of the grape – then you will get much enjoyment from this book. And some excitement too. I will now look at a glass of wine with a different eye. Excuse the pun!
The reviews:-
Journalist Maximillian Potter uncovers a fascinating plot to destroy the vines of La Romanée-Conti, Burgundy’s finest and most expensive wine.
In January 2010, Aubert de Villaine, the famed proprietor of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the tiny, storied vineyard that produces the most expensive, exquisite wines in the world, received an anonymous note threatening the destruction of his priceless vines by poison-a crime that in the world of high-end wine is akin to murder-unless he paid a one million euro ransom. Villaine believed it to be a sick joke, but that proved a fatal miscalculation and the crime shocked this fabled region of France. The sinister story that Vanity Fair journalist Maximillian Potter uncovered would lead to a sting operation by some of France’s top detectives, the primary suspect’s suicide, and a dramatic investigation. This botanical crime threatened to destroy the fiercely traditional culture surrounding the world’s greatest wine.
SHADOWS IN THE VINEYARD takes us deep into a captivating world full of fascinating characters, small-town French politics, an unforgettable narrative, and a local culture defined by the twinned veins of excess and vitality and the deep reverent attention to the land that runs through it.
“A rare book that transcends the narrow interests of wine lovers.”—The New York Times, named a Best Wine Book of 2014
Maximillian Potter, an award-winning journalist, is the senior media adviser for the governor of Colorado. He was the executive editor of 5280: Denver’s Magazine, and previously a staff writer at Premiere, Philadelphia, and GQ. He has been a contributing editor to Men’s Health/Best Life and Details, and contributes to Vanity Fair. Potter is a native of Philadelphia, with a BA from Allegheny College and an MSJ from Northwestern University’s Medill School. He lives in Denver with his wife and two sons.
Dijon 2012
Cheers!!! On 2015!
Dec 31, 2014 @ 15:51:19
Vreeslik dat iemand soiets gedoen het!
Jan 01, 2015 @ 16:14:50
Gelukkig was dit toe n happy ending ware storie 😊
Dec 31, 2014 @ 15:59:39
Sounds like cracking read. Not much to whine about in the review, either.
Jan 01, 2015 @ 16:15:55
An excellent five star book, very well written and so informative!
Dec 31, 2014 @ 20:15:34
Thanks for telling us about that wine book. Happy New Year to you too!
Jan 01, 2015 @ 16:16:55
Thanks! A really great book, highly recommended.
Jan 01, 2015 @ 10:31:11
The narrow interests of wine lovers…what on earth does that mean? My interests are extended, white wine, red wine, soetwyn, brandewn!
Jan 01, 2015 @ 16:18:33
Inderdaad n extended belangstelling 😊 Ek dink die dedicated wine drinker only drinks wine 😂
Jan 02, 2015 @ 10:25:55
Sounds like a good plot maybe I will try it. I do like my glass of wine now and then and also loved France when we went on holiday. Paris was more interesting than I thought it would be. 🙂
Jan 02, 2015 @ 11:00:46
What makes this so exceptional is that it is a true story.I have always loved France. And I think Lyon is my favourite city.
Jan 02, 2015 @ 17:10:48
If you want the book let me know!
Jan 05, 2015 @ 13:04:31
Klink na interessante boek.
Jan 05, 2015 @ 14:29:53
Dis fasinerend. Soos ek se een van die beste boeke wat ek gelees het in 2014. En as jy n kindle het stuur ek dit aan…xx
Jan 13, 2015 @ 16:11:18
Oeijoei! Hier is die opinie van ‘n pleb wyndrinker:
Too much irrelevant detail – well, irrelevant to the extortion episode. Strip this and nothing is left.
I read the book to find out who was behind the extortion and how he/she/they were caught. The solution was a disappointing damp squib, so was the process of catching the culprit.
Otherwise the book promotes the snobbish cult of wine appreciation whilst at the same time showing how wine experts are biased by price and how they can fool themselves about what they are given to taste.
In the end, the author succumbs weakly to the cult when he has his first taste of one of the so-called great wines.
Jan 13, 2015 @ 16:18:46
Thanks! I Loved the book probably because I so love that part of France and I could re-live the visits😊