Recently a friend of D’Amore Wine Selections gave us a copy of Alice Feiring’s book, The Battle for Love and Wine or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, which came out in paperback just in time for the 2009 Christmas holiday.
In so many ways, Alice’s approach to and outlook and wine jive perfectly with ours: at D’Amore Wine Selections, we’re looking to turn Texas on to “real” wines, wines that speak of terroir, of the place where they are made and the people who make them (in other words, wines that, as our friend Paul Roberts says, “translate site”).
That’s Alice, pictured left, with her famous bicycle in SoHo, New York City, where she resides.
Whether she’s writing about the “last of the Mohicans” like Bartolo Mascarello in Piedmont (Italy) or López de Heredia in Rioja (Spain) or whether she’s explaining to us how to identify a “spoofed” wine or taking on a Goliath of the commercial wine industry, Alice is on a never-ending quest to defend the defenders of natural wine.
What is natural wine? Alice perhaps defined it best in this post on her excellent blog, In Vino Veritas. The basic tenets? Wine made from grapes with nothing else added. “Native” or “ambient,” i.e., naturally occurring yeast is used to let the grapes ferment naturally instead of cultured, selected yeast that are used to create artificial flavors and aromas. These are just the basics and there’s a lot more to it: we highly recommend that you check out her book and her blog (we’re daily readers!).
We hope to bring Alice out to Texas in early 2010 to help her spread the gospel. In the meantime, have a look at this excellent interview penned by Texas native and leading wine professional and blogger Amy Atwood.
The Battle for Love and Wine will definitely be under the D’Amore Christmas tree this holiday season!
Buy it at Amazon.com by clicking here.
who gave you the book?