Wine Politics, How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, discusses how influences outside of viniculture and viticulture, shaped the growth of the wine industry in both France and the US. A short read of about 150 pages, this book packs in an enormous amount of information on the history of the wine industry. The book, adapted from the author’s dissertation paper, is written by Tyler Colman. Dr. Colman, who may be more well known as the blogger, Dr. Vino (see his blog), has a PhD in Political Science from Northwestern.
This topic intrigues me immensely. My undergraduate major is in political science and, being a wine fanatic, I’m also interested in the industry. All of the expected subjects are covered from the development of the French Appellation system and Phylloxera to the US Prohibition period and the now famous tasting in France in 1976 that established US wines as premier quality. These are topics I know something about, but definitely crave more understanding.
Wine Politics delivered when it came to educating me further on the industry and explaining the current state of the US wine distributing laws. The book includes wonderful sidebars explaining the labels on wine bottles and terroir. Among many issues cited in the book, I was unaware of the recent issues in France between growers and negociants. Thanks to Wine Politics, I feel compelled more than ever now to learn as much as I can about the forces influencing the industry today.
I have one main criticism of this book. The writing style distracted me from most of my enjoyment of the book. At times, a new section within a chapter would begin abruptly. I was often left wondering in a paragraph or section where the author was headed with his story and how it had anything to do with the previous section. For example,
“The slight man at the lectern was bespectacled and balding and had a large gray moustache. I was at a wine trade show in Paris and checked his name and affiliation in the program: Bertrand Garrigues, CEO of Lamothe-Abiet, a subsidiary of Novozymes. Novozymes, the Danish biotech company? Sure enough. But what was he doing at a wine trade show?”
Just tell me already! That’s what I was thinking when I read that excerpt. I don’t care that the man wears glasses or has a moustache. I felt like the author was trying too hard to please a mainstream audience by using gimmicks in his writing. Other times, sections read straight from an academic paper before moving into the less formal blog style. Dr. Colman quoted and noted his way through some sections only to flip-flop into a story.
The changes in writing styles and gimmicks distracted me from the interesting anecdotes this book had to offer. The book covers a fascinating topic but I would have enjoyed it more had Dr. Colman written the book as himself - without cliches, gimmicks or other styles that aren’t his own personal style.
Summary
The Good: This book is PACKED with information and interesting stories about wine history and politics.
The Less-Desirable: The writing style jumped around between writing for a blog and an academic paper. Superfluous gimmicks detracted from the main points.
As part of Wine Book Club, a book is read and reviewed by Bloggers. Click here for more information on WBC.
Disclaimer: I have to admit, I feel like a fraud criticizing another author’s writing style given that I know I am by no means a stellar writer myself. No doubt I will be suffering through rough criticism in the near future as I work out the kinks of my own writing style. Writing is extremely difficult and I commend Dr. Colman for his work.
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