Tap into the viticulture of the Pacific Northwest!
Essential wines and wineries of the Pacific Northwest : a guide to the wine countries of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Idaho. By Cole Danehower ; photography by Andrea Johnson. Portland, Or. : Timber Press, 2010. 308 p.
Review submitted by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA
Whether you’re simply curious, an aspiring wine connoisseur, or an aficionado, you will be charmed by this book. It is a solid book, 308 pages, and worth a first reading for the photographs and captions alone. It is a travelogue through the wine countries of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho. It is a curriculum on the geography, geology climatology and edaphology of the Pacific Northwest and yet it is not academic.
The text is readable and interesting. Articles such as “Surviving Disaster Together” (p. 52), “Sustainable Viticulture,” (p. 143) and “Biodynamic Wine” (p. 134-135) tell the story of growing grapes and making wine in our corner of the world. Each state or province section begins with a wine country at a glance section for ready reference and each wine country (DVA or designated viticultural area) has the same. “Wineries and Wines to Sample” provides the stories of 160 wineries of the more that 1,000 wineries of the Pacific Northwest.
As a reference source, the book includes a glossary, list of wine grape varieties grown in the Pacific Northwest, a bibliography and an index. Missing from the index are references to towns and cities to which the wineries are attached. The book is not a hardback but is pleasingly flexible and easy to handle. At $24.95 this is a good choice both for libraries and the individual reader.
ISBN-13: 978-0881929669