Recommended Wine Books

By Karen MacNeil
April 10, 2020

by George Taber

“A chronicle of the explosive, Franco-American tasting that put premium California wine on the map.” –Brian Huber

Reserve your own “Judgement” with a Domaine de Chevalier red Bordeaux up against a Cliff Lede Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stag’s Leap District in Napa Valley, California.

by Raj Parr and Jordan McKay

“Reads like a helpful storybook slash travel guide for the vino-obsessed.” –Jodi Bronchtein

Sip along with a wine inspired by Raj’s travels, his SANDHI “Sanford & Benedict” Pinot Noir.

(“Kami no Shizuku”)

by Tadashi Agi (Shin and Yuko Kibayashi)

A cult Japanese graphic novel series about the race to identify 13 rare wines (referred to as the “12 Apostles” and the “Drops of God”) described in an eccentric collector’s journals, and win his cellar. –Janie Woo

As tempting as it is to suggest you sip along with a glass of Chambolle-Musigny, Château Lafleur or Château d’Yquem (the first, fourth and twelfth apostles in the story), the series never actually revealed the final wine. Every person has his own “Drops of God” bottle. What’s yours? Tell us here.

The term Rutherford Dust refers to:

A. The pulverized volcanic material found in the soils of the Rutherford appellation within the Napa Valley

B. The dirt (and in summer, very dusty) roads that were built in the late 1870s in order to construct Inglenook, the palatial chateau-style winery founded in 1879 by Gustave Niebaum in Rutherford in the Napa Valley

C. The unique dirt-like smell and taste of the wines made in the Rutherford appellation of the Napa Valley

D. The grainy sediment found in well-aged bottles of cabernet sauvignon from the Rutherford appellation of the Napa Valley

Some mystery still surrounds the term “Rutherford Dust” and its creator. That said, in his book “Private Reserve” about the history of Rutherford’s iconic Beaulieu Vineyards, the late writer Rod Smith recounts the first time André Tchelistcheff tasted the 1936 Beaulieu Cabernet Sauvignon (which later became the first vintage of the winery’s Georges de Latour Private Reserve bottling). He writes, “The most intriguing thing about the wine was a whiff of clean dirt with a high-toned note something like pencil shavings. André recognized it as the expression of a distinctive terroir—the very fragrance of Rutherford. To describe it, he would later coin the term ‘Rutherford dust’.” Tchelistcheff, considered by many to be the “father of California winemaking,” was Beaulieu’s chief winemaker and vice president from 1938 to 1973. Rob Davis, winemaker at Jordan winery, and a mentee of Tchelistcheff’s adds, “If there is one thing that André repeated over and over again was the importance of terroir. He spent a lot of time tasting grapes in Beaulieu’s vineyards and felt that the blocks in Rutherford had a special taste, smell and structure.” My thanks also to Joel Aiken (Beaulieu’s winemaker from 1985 to 2009, and another Tchelistcheff mentee) for help with this research.

Chernobyl Vodka—No Kidding

In the please-tell-me-it’s-not-true department comes this: a new “artisan vodka” is being made in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s “Exclusion Zone,” according to The Smithsonian. The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in the Ukraine exploded in 1986,… Continue reading

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