Wine: The 8,000-Year-Old Story of the Wine Trade

I found the book extremely interesting in so many ways, eg. Geography, History, the evolution of wine storage over the centuries, the comparison of regulations from Nation to Nation. We all should have heard of Babylon (even from Boney M a few years ago) but how many of us would have known that it was roughly where Baghdad stands today. Who would have known that the earliest remnants of wine grapes found (so far) were in the Republic of Georgia? A wonderful learning book.

I was amazed by the influence that wine had on the development of the world, how it influenced population growth, exploration and everything else. I found it very informative and would recommend it to anyone interested in wine and its history.

This was a well researched and documented book, which traces the beginning, not of wine, but of the wine trade. If you ever wanted to know all about the true history of wine, and commerce makes or breaks anything, then read this book.

I was delighted with Pellechia's first book, "Garlic, Wine and Olive Oil" so I was prepared to enjoy his history of wine - and I was not disappointed. It is easy to read, and I enjoy the human dimension he employs in telling the story. Naturally, a history book includes the tales of well-known people and major events of past and present centuries, but Pellechia retells many of those stories with the twist of how the development, the trade, and the appreciation of wine was affected by those people and events. Not what you normally hear about in history class! The book itself is well-illustrated, with interesting sidebars. There is a personal feel to the prose and the illustrations that make the book feel special and unusual. A good addition to my personal library, and a great gift for friends.

This book won my heart from the dedication page, and held it throughout. Thomas Pellechia dedicated the book to my nearby wine merchant, the one with a great selection and a pleasant, knowledgeable staff. Pellechia believes, as I do, that establishing a good working relationship with an excellent wine merchant is essential to learning about the joys of wine. In his final chapter, he describes some of the changes in the US wine market that have made establishing such a relationship even easier. Of course, one has to exercise a degree of caution in dealing with any retailer. For example, it's important to be sure your retailer is selling wines that have been shipped in refrigerated reefers to avoid spoilage from heat damage. George Washington shared advice to avoid other shipping problems: "I should be glad in that case, to have it well secured against adulteration; for I had rather lose the whole, than to have part taken out and the deficiency supplied with water, which is too common a practice with the river Shippers." Letter to Lamar Hill Bisset on September 1, 1785. Wine merchants can be wonderful teachers. For example, Thomas George Shaw, a Scotman who was active in the London wine trade between 1830 and 1865, wrote a wonderful history of dealing with wine during those years, Wine, The Vine And The Cellar. (The book appeared in two editions, the very rare 1862 edition, and the expanded 1864. The 1864 has been beautifully reproduced.) Shaw was particularly good on his successful efforts to reduce the import duty on wine, and quite interesting on the qualities of wines from various parts of the world. His advice to wine lovers rings true today: "I have seen and tasted and drunk as much [wine], and have, probably, as good a taste as the generality of men; but I know by long experience, that I often form a very erroneous opinion, and like a wine one day and dislike it the next: and every other wine merchant might make a similar statement." Pellechia takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through the business of buying, transporting and selling wines through thousands of years. He illustrates his text with maps carefully keyed to his story, interesting quotes from sometimes unlikely sources, and interesting factoids sprinkled throughout the text. I particularly enjoyed browsing through the bibliography. It contains some of the great wine reference books, of course, but also includes some very good history books, books that you might not think of as having anything to do with wine. Pellechia demonstrates that you would be wrong. Robert C. Ross 2006 2008