Tasting the Past
July 16, 2019 1:40 PM - by Kevin Begos - Subscribe

In search of a mysterious wine he once tasted in a hotel room minibar, journalist Kevin Begos travels along the original wine routes—from the Caucasus Mountains, where wine grapes were first domesticated eight thousand years ago, crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, and then America—and unearths a whole world of forgotten grapes, each with distinctive tastes and aromas. We meet the scientists who are decoding the DNA of wine grapes, and the historians who are searching for ancient vineyards and the flavors cultivated there. Begos discovers wines that go far beyond the bottles of Chardonnay and Merlot found in most stores and restaurants, and he offers suggestions for wines that are at once ancient and new.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis (1 comment total)
 
An unintentional companion book to godforsaken grapes, written and published around the same time, tasting the past is a look not only at the modern wineries that continue old traditions, but at the history behind these old and indigenous grapes. A useful feature of this book is that at the end of most chapters is some direction on where one could purchase the wines mentioned in the chapter. The last few chapters feature American wineries that look to the past and to places other than Bordeaux- as well as a few Silicon Valley type wine mishaps. A good book for any wine or history lover.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:45 PM on July 16, 2019


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