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The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization | 
 enlarge | Author: Alice Feiring
Publisher: Harcourt
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $10.50
You Save: $12.50 (54%)
New (24) from $10.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 16484
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0151012865
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.22
EAN: 9780151012862
ASIN: 0151012865
Publication Date: May 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Perfect condition. Brand-new. Ships same day.
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Product Description
"I want my wines to tell a good story. I want them natural and most of all, like my dear friends, I want them to speak the truth even if we argue,” says Alice Feiring. Join her as she sets off on her one-woman crusade against the tyranny of homogenization, wine consultants, and, of course, the 100-point scoring system of a certain all-powerful wine writer. Traveling through the ancient vineyards of the Loire and Champagne, to Piedmont and Spain, she goes in search of authentic barolo, the last old-style rioja, and the tastiest new terroir-driven champagnes. She reveals just what goes into the average bottle—the reverse osmosis, the yeasts and enzymes, the sawdust and oak chips—and why she doesn’t find much to drink in California. And she introduces rebel winemakers who are embracing old-fashioned techniques and making wines with individuality and soul. No matter what your palate, travel the wine world with Feiring and you’ll have to ask yourself: What do i really want in my glass?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 She won the battle at my house! June 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved the book. It was so interesting I wanted to highlight parts! I have tried several of the wines she talked about. Great book!! It was a great way to learn about wine without getting bored. Buy the book and help save the world (wine) from Parkerization!
Wine World Wonder, and Worth your While June 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ms. Feiring has been bemoaning the state of the wine world for quite some time, and now she has beautifully codified her feelings and her reasons in this smart, entertaining book.
Of course, if you actually prefer over-managed, scientifically manipulated vino, this book is not for you. Very probably you're also not interested in the environment, organically-grown food, natural remedies, etc. and consider GMO a new car from General Motors...
For the rest of us, though, this book is a treat. It reaffirms the idea that caring and respect for the land--and what comes out of it--provides a particularly sensuous, 'natural' pleasure. In other words, there's something wonderful and a touch mysterious about drinking an un-enhanced wine, whether it be in a posh restaurant or an open field. That's what Alice Feiring understands, and you can almost feel the warmth of her favorite wines suffusing your own body even as it does hers.
The book is also funny, especially when she quotes some of the absurd adjectives that are bandied about as wine descriptors (largely, but not exclusively, by Mr. Parker). And a colorful cast of passionate vintners round out a well-told, intercontinental story.
And a word for the reviewers who insist she is on a 'high horse:' I have met Alice Feiring. I've even attended a wine tasting she sponsored (none of which colors my review, thank you very much). While she does have opinions and beliefs, as do we all, she has no designs on the kind of power and pomposity she correctly detects and despises in the current state of wine affairs. She's not on a high horse; you are more likely to see her on a bicycle.
And that's a perfect metaphor for her beliefs as well: simple, powered by human intention, with only basic mechanics to move it forward.
The book, and the wines favored, are tasty. Take a sip!
 Very questionable- June 16, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book read like it was written by the few importers with whom she is obviously enamored. the entire book just read really poorly to me- she's on a high horse and represents the very worst in what people consider to be wine snobs. save your money people- this woman sees things very much in black and white. she should be giving half her money to parker- if his name wasn't in the title, i think about 5 copies of this terrible tome would have sold.
What's All the Fuss About? June 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just finished reading Ms. Feiring's "The Battle for Wine and Love." I loved it. I belong to a wine group that has been blind tasting wine since the 1970's. Over the past few years, we've all wondered, sometimes out loud, why gifted, talented and experienced (some more than others) tasters so often are unable to identify the grape varietal or blend. Ms. Feiring's book, in a well-balanced manner, offers many explanations. Locally, we've found that our beloved fruit, Pinot Noir, has become so extracted and over-oaked that we don't know what the hell we're tasting. There are, however, many local wine makers that get it - as does Ms. Feiring. The thought of a global palate, just like having all of our food taste identical (or nearly so) is just plain wrong. Cheers to Ms. Feiring for her passion, honesty and integrity.
 Love/Hate Relationship With This Book June 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I first found out about this book from reading an article written by the author that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. In it, she seemed on the warpath, ready to offend anyone and anything as a means to get people to read her book to see what her outrageous statements were about. Myself, I thought this woman who criticized winemakers for manipulating wines into big, huge, bold styles in order to please Robert Parker and thus sell more bottles was guilty of the same thing, making outrageous statements and trying to create controversy in order to sell copies of her book.
However, I did agree in principle with what she was saying, that too often these days wines are manipulated into something that tries to please the consumer and they are losing their individuality. So I bought the book. Amazon's price makes it too attractive to pass up.
Pros: Ms. Feiring writes very well. She takes the reader around the globe in her adventures as we meet various winemakers on both sides of the fence, as she advances her argument against over-manipulation. I think most readers would be pretty surprised to find out what goes on in a lot of wineries in order to achieve the sort of wine they want to sell. It's a topic that does need to be more publicized.
Cons: Ms. Feiring sounds like she's taken out a contract on Robert Parker. She is so anti-Parker that it threatens the credibility of the book. She also tries to paint everything in black and white, as in small, family, old-fashioned winemakers = good guys and big, corporate, technology-utilizing winemakers = bad and evil guys. It's the same as people who automatically slam big corporations simply because they are big. She also tries to combine her romantic life with her discussion of the wines and I felt this added nothing to the book. In fact, I got tired of hearing about "Owl Man" and the others and was thinking, who cares?
If you can get past the chip (or boulder) that the author seems to have on her shoulder, this book is well worth reading. It will influence the way you perceive the next glass of wine you drink, as well as all the rest of them.
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