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Title details for For the Love of Wine by Alice Feiring - Available

For the Love of Wine

My Odyssey through the World's Most Ancient Wine Culture

by Alice Feiring
ebook
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In 2011 when Alice Feiring first arrived in Georgia, she felt as if she'd emerged from the magic wardrobe into a world filled with mythical characters making exotic and delicious wine with the low-tech methods of centuries past. She was smitten, and she wasn't alone. This country on the Black Sea has an unusual effect on people; the most passionate rip off their clothes and drink wines out of horns while the cold-hearted well up with tears and make emotional toasts. Visiting winemakers fall under Georgia's spell and bring home qvevris (clay fermentation vessels) while rethinking their own techniques.
But, as in any good fairy tale, Feiring sensed that danger rode shotgun with the magic. With acclaim and growing international interest come threats in the guise of new wine consultants aimed at making wines more commercial. So Feiring fought back in the only way she knew how: by celebrating Georgia and the men and women who make the wines she loves most, those made naturally with organic viticulture, minimal intervention, and no additives.
From Tbilisi to Batumi, Feiring meets winemakers, bishops, farmers, artists, and silk spinners. She feasts, toasts, and collects recipes. She encounters the thriving qvevri craftspeople of the countryside, wild grape hunters, and even Stalin's last winemaker while plumbing the depths of this tiny country's love for its wines.
For the Love of Wine is Feiring's emotional tale of a remarkable country and people who have survived religious wars and Soviet occupation yet managed always to keep hold of their precious wine traditions. Embedded in the narrative is the hope that Georgia has the temerity to confront its latest threat—modernization.


  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 1, 2016

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781612348384
      • File size: 3815 KB

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781612348384
      • File size: 3815 KB

  • Accessibility

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  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      January 15, 2016
      Award-winning wine writer Feiring (Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally, 2011, etc.) offers a peek into the Republic of Georgia's relatively little-known wine culture. Georgia, a small country bordering the Black Sea, boasts 525 indigenous grapes, 8,000 vintages, and the "longest unbroken winemaking history." In 2011, the author poured a glass of "amber colored wine with some tannic scratch" for the wine director of famed New York City restaurant Le Bernardin. Though he was underwhelmed, Feiring was impressed by the wine's unusual character. Soon after, she participated in a conference on natural wines in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. Feiring was seduced by the country, its colors and flavors, and the unusual method of creating wine in large clay pots called qvevri. "Whether or not there was a genetic or spiritual link, Georgia, in the shadows of the Caucasus Mountains, burrowed under my skin," she writes. The author began championing the wine and the Georgian winemakers' efforts at retaining their traditional methods against the chemicals, commercialization, and standardization so prevalent in numerous wine regions around the globe. She weaves in a brief overview of the country's turbulent history under communist rule and its deleterious effects on its wine industry. "It was then," she writes, "that everything crystallized for me: communism under the Russians and modern-day capitalism were twins separated at birth. Neither fostered or celebrated the individual." Feiring also discovered that Georgians don't just eat; they feast with gusto. She describes her experiences with long, rowdy repasts complete with multiple toasts, and she includes Georgian recipes such as Ajarian Chirbuli, a breakfast dish featuring eggs, walnuts, and hot chilies, and Lamb Chakapuli, a slow-cooked stew eaten by Stalin. Throughout, the author chronicles her explorations into Georgia's varied wine regions. Feiring's lively account is a good place to begin for wine lovers seeking a head start on exploring a vastly underappreciated wine-producing country.

      COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

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subjects

Languages

  • English

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