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+--- Thread: Book Report (/thread-12961.html)
- Innkeeper - 01-27-2004
“Wine Report 2004â€, by Tom Stevenson; DK $15.00. This is an excellent reference for wine enthusiasts with a modicum of knowledge to begin with. If you have “Member†status versus “New member†on this board, it could be for you. Tom farms out the various worldwide wine regions to those who are expert in the individual regions. He quite properly kept Champagne and Alsace for himself. Clive Coates does Burgundy, Dan Berger does California, etc. Every single region is covered including Israel, Russia, and China. As you might guess, since the book is published in England, the Old World gets better coverage than the New World. For example Eastern and Southeastern Europe gets ten pages and California gets nine. For each region there is an introduction by the regional expert, vintage reports, “grapevinesâ€, and listings of greatest, fastest-improving, up and coming, a best bargain producers, and exciting or unusual finds. After the regional reports in the back of book are chapters on organic wines, wine and health, grape varieties, classic vintage guides, auction and investment news, viticulture, wine science, and wine on the web (yes we made it!). The book ends with the 100 Most Exciting Wine Finds. Tom received 160 wines from his experts and their comments on them, and narrowed it down to 100 and added his comments. Tough job! This is not a book you sit down with and read from beginning to end, but it is very interesting to peruse, and is an excellent reference for things going on the world of wine today.
- Thomas - 01-27-2004
Gee--Tom never contacted me about the Finger Lakes...I'm hurt!
Are you there, Tom?
- Innkeeper - 01-27-2004
Somebody named Sanda Silfven covered the "Atlantic Northeast."
- Kcwhippet - 01-27-2004
Who the hell is he/she? Never heard of that person.
Scratch the above. I found her. She's the wine writer for the Detroit News. Interesting little bio says she's the paper's longtime copy editor and former restaurant critic. There's a quote that appears to be her approach to wine - "If I can figure out this stuff, so can you."
[This message has been edited by Kcwhippet (edited 01-28-2004).]
- Innkeeper - 01-29-2004
One problem I forgot to mention is that all wine prices are given in local currency. I guess this is understandable given the structure of the book. Euros make it easy for European wines, until you run into Swiss Francs or whatever it is they use in Hungry. Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand dollars are easy to convert. Mere conversion doesn't do the trick. I became interested in a '99 Pinot Noir from a small Burgundian negotiant that sold for six Euros. Hoping to find it in the U.S. for $10 or thereabouts, the '01 (a poorer vintage) turned up at Chambers Street for $22. They don't have high markups, but someone is making money somewhere.
[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 01-29-2004).]
- Thomas - 01-29-2004
KC, your observation might prove again the point: it ain't what but who you know...
IK, here's one way money is made on conversion rates.
I recently wrote an article for a European periodical--agreed to a Euro fee.
Now that I am to get paid, I am told that I will receive the Euro fee I agreed to, but the government demands a 30% withholding (I don't know who keeps it).
The 30% fee covers the increased dollar conversion from Euros, which means the 1300 Euros are worth to me 30% less than they are on the open market.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 01-29-2004).]