A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present
By addebook • Dec 8th, 2008 • Category: Food&Nutrition
A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present
by Charles L. Sullivan
A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present
By Charles L. Sullivan
Publisher: University of California Press
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 1998-10-01
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0520213513
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780520213517
Binding: Hardcover
California is the nation’s great vineyard, supplying grapes for most of the wine produced in the United States. The state is home to more than 700 wineries, and California’s premier wines are recognized throughout the world. But until now there has been no comprehensive guide to California wine and winemaking. Charles L. Sullivan’s A Companion to California Wine admirably fills that gap–here is the reference work for consumers, wine writers, producers, and scholars.
Sullivan’s encyclopedic handbook traces the Golden State’s wine industry from its mission period and Gold Rush origins down to last year’s planting and vintage statistics. All aspects of wine are included, and wine production from vine propagation to bottling is described in straightforward language. There are entries for some 750 wineries, both historical and contemporary; for more than 100 wine grape varieties, from Aleatico to Zinfandel; and for wine types from claret to vermouth–all given in a historical context.
In the book’s foreword the doyen of wine writers, Hugh Johnson, tells of his own forty-year appreciation of California wine and its history. “Charles Sullivan’s Companion,” he adds, “will provide the grist for debate, speculation, and reminiscence from now on. With admirable dispassion he sets before us just what has happened in the plot so far.”
Amazon.com Review:
Charles Sullivan’s A Companion to California Wine: Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking fills an oenological-reference niche that has up till now been lacking a suitably comprehensive and scholarly effort. An A-to-Z compendium of wine-related entries ranging from Acacia Winery to Zinfandel, the Companion to California Wine covers 750 wineries and more than 100 wine-grape varietals, delivering useful explanations for tourists and wine-tasters, plus well-researched historical context for wine scholars, history students, and the idly curious.
A random flip to page 3 reveals a profile of Leon D. Adams (journalist, historian, cofounder of the Wine Institute, and author of Commonsense Book of Wine), thumbnail sketches of small wineries (Adelaida Cellars near San Luis Obispo, Aetana Springs Wine Ranch in Napa, and Ahlgren Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains); an entry on aging wines that explains the process and details its history in California; a blurb on Aguardiente, the hard liquor commonly consumed during the Gold Rush; plus a introduction to Alameda County and its important wine-growing regions.
A great boon to California oenophiles wishing to bone up on the small winery labels they run across (the entries for which include location, history, annual production, and the varietals they specialize in), Sullivan’s encyclopedia is engaging enough for amateur wine buffs and comprehensive enough for serious students of California history, wine history, or both. — Stephanie Gold
Summary: An essential reference to California wine
Rating: 5
The importance of Bo Simmond’s praise for this book on Amazon can not be exaggerated; there is no better library of wine books in the United States. Sullivan himself has studied wine and its history in California for over 30 years. He has a clear and concise style, and his text is well documented and reliable.
Sullivan has contributed his California wine history database to winefiles.org. It contains over 30,000 citations to primary sources in California’s wine history, including books, newspapers, trade journals and other periodicals.
In addition to “A Companion to California Wine’, Sullivan is the author of:
“Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present”;
“WINES AND WINEMAKERS OF THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS” (Los Gatos: D. R. Bennion Trust, 1992);
“Like Modern Edens: Winegrowing in Santa Clara Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains 1798-1981″; and
“Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine” (California Studies in Food and Culture, 10).
Sullivan continues to write about California wine, and has written over a hundred articles on the subject, which have been published in leading wine periodicals. “A Companion” is a great place to explore his work and California wine history in general.
Robert C. Ross 2008
Summary: A Delightful Companion
Rating: 5
This lean volume is everything you’d want in a companion: Lively, intoxicating, and beautiful in appearance; her lean, supple prose swells provocatively beneath the sheer, black jacket that clings suggestively to this tight, curvaceaous body of work. But she is more than a sensual treat! Her wit, though not of the highest order, gives some delight as well and one would be proud to appear with this companion under one’s arm even at a Mensa gathering.
….
Summary: New California Wine Companion destined to become a standard
Rating: 5
I am the librarian at the Sonoma County Wine Library, and I have known Charles Sullivan for some years. His newest work will probably be THE one volume reference on California wine from now on. In concise and informative entries, Sullivan encompasses the whole of California’s rich wine heritage. He covers all the varietals and most of the wineries A to Z. His writing is insightful, dispassionate and fluid, and his research is superb.
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