Buy Now, Pay Later
As low as
$2
/ mo
Learn more
- – 4-month term
- – No impact on credit to apply
- – Instant approval decision
- – Secure and straightforward checkout
Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout.
Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayTomorrow. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Free shipping on this product
30-day returns
Learn more
FREE 30-day refund/replacement
To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
Availability:
In Stock.
Arrives
Saturday, Jun 6
Recently Viewed
Description
In the time since Bright Lights, Big City reinvigorated contemporary fiction, Jay McInerney can claim a great many accomplishments, including the mantle that Salon has given him: “the best wine writer in America.” "[McInerney's] research is impeccable. . . . Wine writer or novelist, the man is a story teller and a good one"—The New York Times In A Hedonist in the Cellar, he gathers more than five years’ worth of essays and continues his exploration of what’s new, what’s enduring, and what’s surprising, giving his palate a complete workout and the reader an indispensable, idiosyncratic guide to a world of almost infinite variety. Rieslings from the Finger Lakes, Armagnac from Gascony, powerhouse amarones from Valpolicella, the most fearsome critics in England, chocolate-friendly bottles from all over the globe, new developments in Chile and Argentina—these are only some of the delights now ready to be savored in a collection driven not only by wine itself but also the people who make it and those whose enjoyment is matched by their curiosity. Full of terroir and flavor, svelte personalities, and keen insight into the trade, these are irresistible essays for anyone enthralled by the manifold pleasures of wine. Read more
Publisher : Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date : November 6, 2007
Edition : Reprint
Language : English
Print length : 272 pages
ISBN-10 : 1400096375
ISBN-13 : 74
Item Weight : 8 ounces
Dimensions : 5.19 x 0.62 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #535,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #3 in Wine Cellars (Books) #85 in Wine (Books) #177 in Homebrewing, Distilling & Wine Making
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Saturday, Jun 6
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
- Klarna Financing
- Affirm Pay in 4
- Affirm Financing
- Afterpay Financing
- PayTomorrow Financing
- Financing through Apple Pay
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
I love the author's loose style. It makes reading about wine more approachable for those like myself just jumping into the tank. Excellent.
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2016 by Michael Obarka
Format: Hardcover
Click on book cover to order at Amazon.com Reviewed by Joyce Sparrow Onophiles and grocery store wine shoppers will do well breaking out an atlas to follow the world-wide wine adventures of fiction writer and House and Garden wine columnist Jay McInerney as he travels from California to France and many European stops to learn more about the enjoyment of wine. Readers will want a note pad and pencil at their sides to jot down McInerney's many wine suggestions. These 52 essays show the knowledge McInerney has gained since his early years in Syracuse, New York where, as a graduate student in writing, he spent many hours as a clerk at the local cordial shop, which he refers to as a boozeteria, two miles from Syracuse University. In between frequent customers and a few armed robberies, McInerney spent many of his shifts reading the shop owner's viticulture books. Later in his career as a novelist, he was given a chance to write the House and Garden wine column, which led to his opportunity to learn the details behind how some of the best wines and wineries came to be. His column continues today. Foremost, McInerney is a storyteller who entertains readers with tales about his wine discoveries. Many of the essays take the confusion out of wine pairing. "Odd Couples" explains how Champagne goes well with most Japanese food. In "What to Drink with Chocolate" McInerney finds the best wine to pair with chocolate. "Fish Stories from Le Bernadin" proves eight out of ten sea creatures prefer white wine to red. McInerney captures the culture of the vineyards and relays the history of wines from the Catholic monks to present day viticulturists. Much to his credit, McInerney downplays his growing expertise to reach the common wine drinker. He offers advice on how to impress the restaurant sommelier and even offers guidance on the correct pronunciation of the word: some-el-yay. Overall, this collection provides a fun education for the average person who enjoys an occasional glass of really good wine. Armchair Interviews says: Recommended for the novice and expert wine drinker alike.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2007 by Armchair Interviews
Format: Hardcover
This is a fabulous book for wine lovers, from beginners to connoisseurs. The series of vignettes are funny and very informative. We're pretty far along with wine, but we learned a lot of great stuff while being entertained. It's a book you want to give all your wine-loving friends for Christmas.
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2008 by Karen Seijas
Format: Hardcover
"Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It is not done well but you are surprised to find it done at all."-Samuel Johnson I want to get one thing straight before I begin: I wouldn't know Jay McInerny from Hugh McElhenny, so I don't want anyone to think that this review is colored by my previous experience with McInerny as a novelist or anything else. I understand this book is a compilation of short articles he wrote for the magazine House & Garden over a five-year span in the early part of this decade, although there are no dates on individual entries. That's too bad, because in 2007 there's virtually nothing new in the entire book, and if it turned out he wrote them all, let's say, in the period between 2000-2001, at least we'd know he was blazing some new ground at the time and it just took the rest of us a while to catch up. Instead I would describe the net effect as a romp through very well trodden territory with a half-baked, way-too-clever-for-his-own-good guide. In the introduction, McInerny informs us that he came by his gig at House and Garden by accident, when a friend and editor suggested he combine his growing passion for the grape with his writing. Hence the Johnson quote above- should we be impressed that a novelist knows anything about wine, or perhaps go with the flow and quote Maximus from Gladiator, dripping blood in the center of the arena and shouting, "are you not entertained?" My standard-bearer in this genre is Gerald Asher, who for 30 years has written brilliantly incisive articles about wine in Gourmet (The Pleasures of Wine). I know Gerald Asher, at least his wine writing, and Jay McInerny, Sir, is no Gerald Asher. I'm going to begin my serious critique with the most nitpicky of comments. I hate typos and errata in books about wine. Maybe no one can tell when typos occur in a novel. But they are well nigh inexcusable in any work where people are theoretically relying on the author for accuracy and a minimal level of expertise. I refuse to accept the claim that a wine writer of any caliber understands his subject if he can't spell a place name right or spend the time to proofread, even if he once identified a bottle of '82 Haut Brion blind. Here are just two examples (curiously, both blunders I noticed relate to Italy, which, like Rome, seems to be where many unskilled wine gladiators go to die.) (1) Gamberro or Gambero? The famous Italian wine guide Gambero Rosso is spelled both ways within two pages. (2) Somewhere he refers to the town of Spoleto but it's written Spoleta, which is doubly unfortunate because it actually has nothing to do with wine-it's an Umbrian town famous for its annual classical music festival, also mirrored in Charleston, SC. My point is, what else in here is a trap for people who think he's trustworthy? Were these names misspelled in the magazine and someone just hit the copy and paste key? On a related note, why is a chapter entitled "The Maserati of Champagne" not placed in a section of the book called "Bubbles and Spirits?" The whole effort comes across as casual, superficial and sloppy, like maybe he was still drunk while he was writing and never went back for a fact check-hell, it's not a novel, after all. But the two main reasons I found myself increasingly wincing as he pranced along were more significant. First, I suppose it goes with the territory, but I have to say I found his frequent use of metaphors, especially literary ones, both pretentious and unreliable. There are multiple references to wines as sports cars, including Maserati (see above), Ferrari and Mercedes-never linked to the country of the wine's origin- but unfortunately no steady, dependable Civics that can give you a lot of mileage for everyday consumption. Different first-growth Bordeaux are stylistically Turgenevs, Tolstoys and Dostoyevskys-at least he can spell them right-though I have no idea what he's talking about. A poor South African winemaker is described as "the gruff Charles Barkley-sized black sheep of the family," which is such an unintentionally inappropriate and hilarious analogy I had to include it even if it doesn't refer to a wine. I can't wait for his book on basketball. Which brings me to the final complaint. Perhaps the book's most annoying feature is the seemingly random perspective the individual essays take relative to the reader's presumed knowledge of wine. I'm sure many will have already decided I'm an unrepentant geek of some kind because I don't appreciate the wit and accessibility on display here, or that I'm focusing on the bad instead of the good, but I would think that McInerny owes it to his readers to talk to them at a consistent level instead of a voice that's literally and figuratively all over the map. From one paragraph or essay to another he either speaks to the audience in an instructive and engaging tone like he was the grand prize in a "win an evening with Jay McInerny" winetasting sweepstakes for H&G subscribers, or he prattles on with the most abstruse, incomprehensible name-dropping drivel about wines that only a billionaire can afford. Just to show this is a balanced review, I will credit the author for trying to sprinkle most essays with a few recommended examples of whatever he's talking about. When exploring the wide world of wine, we all need someone we can Lichine on, and if you want to, you can Lichine on he. Although I hate to see it in print, I must also give him credit for outing the fabulous though increasingly expensive wines of Montefalco's Paolo Bea. I'm about done here. My recommendation would be for you to try to read a few of the short chapters before you buy this book to see if it hits the mark for you. But if I were writing in the clever McInerny style, I'd be compelled to return to my opening and say something like, while Hugh McElhinney made it into the football Hall of Fame, this book is going into my wine writing hall of shame
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2007 by Volatile_Acidity
Format: Paperback
A great writer, a great collection of stories on wine.
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2014 by S90