Extreme Wine
Roman & Littlefield (forthcoming October 2013)
[Note Extreme Wine is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com!]
In Extreme Wine, wine economist and best-selling author Mike Veseth circles the globe searching for the best, worst, cheapest, most expensive, and most over-priced wines. Mike seeks out the most outrageous wine people and places and probes the biggest wine booms and busts. Along the way he applauds celebrity wines, tries to find wine at the movies, and discovers wines that are so scarce that they are almost invisible. Why go to such extremes? Because. Mike argues, the world of wine is growing and changing, and if you want to find out what’s really happening you can’t be afraid to step over the edge. Written with verve and appreciation for all things wine, Extreme Wine will surprise and delight readers.
- Why are the most expensive wines not always the best and the cheapest almost never the worst?
- Why is there sometimes only a tiny difference between the best wines and the worst ones?
- Andy Warhol said that everyone (and everything?) would be famous for 15 minutes – so why does the fame of some wines endure for centuries?
- What are the rarest and most ubiquitous wines and why are “$20-bill wines” almost impossible to find?
- Sometimes it seems like celebrities ruin almost everything they touch. So why are celebrity wines sometimes excellent and even historic?
- What have been the biggest wine booms and busts and what do they tell us about the wine business?
- What does the world’s “oldest living wine” taste like?
- What are the best wine movies (and why aren’t there more of them)?
- How is fine wine like grand opera (and is that a good thing)?
- Who are the most extreme wine people and what are the most extreme wine-tourist destinations?
- What is the future of wine in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and why should you care?
- In a world defined by money, media, and fame, does the eternal essence of wine endure? Or will it be tossed in the dustbin in the mobile-enabled drive-through culture of the future?
- If you travel to the end of the earth and back in search of extreme wine experiences, what do you learn?
Table of Contents
1. X-Wines: In Vino Veritas?
2. Best and the Worst
3. The Fame Game
4. The Invisible Wine
5. Money Wine
6. Extreme Wine Booms and Busts
7. Extreme Wine People
8. Celebrity Wine
9. Extreme Wine at the Movies
10. Extreme Wine Tourism
11. Extreme Wine: The Next Generation
12. Extreme Wine Adventure
Hi Mike,
Making Icewine in Canada is very extreme. Come up this January and help us pick frozen grapes in the middle of the night when temperatures go below -8C as we have for the past 29 years — and then attend our Icewine Festival and sip Icewine at our nighttime cocktail party held on the street in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Wine, food, music, snow and parka’s (fitted one’s mind you).
That’s a great idea, Greg. I already had Canadian Icewine on the extreme wine list, but it works as part of the wine tourism chapter, too. Many thanks!
Hi Mike,
Think this is a great idea, and excited to contribute. I’m a UPS alum now working into wine in Dundee and Portland, OR but currently in Mendoza, Argentina probing the wine world here for opportunities next harvest. The two extremes that I think of here have been the torrontes, both for the extreme of it’s varietal expression (the liar!) and the province of Salta, where it stereotypically grows. Also, Patagonian Pinot Noir…just got back from Bariloche where, by my understanding many new wineries have popped up in large part with incentive subsidies to settle the arid regions in Rio Negro province. Pretty extreme wine in an extreme region of the world! And with recent governmental policy shifting in Argentina, it looks like it may be getting more interesting. Looking forward to following these developments. Saludos!
Mike-
Please don’t ignore the largest winery in the world. The last I knew it was in Modesto California and owned by Gallo.
Sounds fantastic. I suggest adding at least one chapter on the growing side of the business–extreme viticulture!
Under extreme wines, you might consider those made from the American Jacquez grape variety, outlawed in France because of the supposed high level of methanol produced during its fermentation. I wrote about it once on my wine blog, The Vine Route, and got several highly passionate comments from American defenders.
Great idea, Tom. Thanks!
Don’t forget the original extreme wines – fortified wine. Port, marsala, madeira, sherry, etc. A glass of vintage port by the fire on a cold winter night is the best way to close out the day!
Done! Great idea.
Oh, and of course the modern interpretation, Thunderbird!
I’ve been looking for Thunderbird at the stores here — haven’t seen any. Is it easy to find in Nevada?
Hi Mike, how about writing about Georgian wine? Afterall, they boast to be the world’s first country to produce wine. When reading about its tasting notes online, I am filled with amazement and curiosity about its vinification methods and its resultant taste. It will also be able to tie in with your topic about exploring how the passage of time has affected wine. I would definitely be keen to buy your book just to hear your view on that!
I like this idea — maybe in the wine tourism chapter?
I think Fred Franzia is a fascinating topic. A familiar hobby horse perhaps, but no doubt many passionate winos started out over bottles of 2 buck chuck in UCB dorm rooms. Definitely the extreme end of the business end. Definitely grape-a-hol.
I agree, Trevor. Fred definitely needs to be there someplace. Thanks.
Hi Mike
Don’t forget the sparkling reds and sparkling marsanne from Australia!
Michael Hince
Melbourne Aus.
Mike- Don’t leave out the Northwest’s final frontier of wine – Idaho. The high elevation,hot days and cool nights work wonders with Merlot and Tempranillo. And we are still considered the frontier of Northwest wine according to pundits in Walla Walla and down at UC Davis! Tourism opportunities and good wine – Decent combination.
Hi Mike, I can’t wait to get your book and start to learn more about your “extreme wines”.
I’m wondering if you have thought about our italian extreme wines grown on steapy dangerous hills on the cliffs in the Cinqueterre area (Liguria region), where the only way to grow them is with using funicular; or the Nebbiolo grown on the rocky terrace on the foot of the mountains of Valtellina and Valle d’Aosta regions.Thanks!
Dear Mike,
Do not forget the extremely rare Colares wine in Portugal. Extremely rare because only a very few bottles are produced. But it is also an extreme wine because it comes from vyneards from Vitis Vinifera planted on sandy soil at the Northwest of Europe very close to the Atlantic. Vyneards that are conducted very close to the soil to be protected from sea winds and to profit from the heat of the sand to mature well since this microregion is very foggy that otherwise do not have enough sunshine for a proprer maturation.
It have also a local Malsey that give a superb white wine and the local Ramisco that give an interesting wine after sufficient aging to smooth the tanins.
Manuel
Fascinating! Thanks for this, Manuel.