Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar - Hardcover

McInerney, Jay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585741868 ISBN 13: 9781585741861

Publisher: Lyons Pr, 2000

Synopsis

The best-selling novelist has turned his command of language and flair for metaphor on the world of wine, providing untraditional musings on wine and wine culture.

About this title

Review:

Bright lights: Krug, Latour, Lafite, Montrose. Big cities: Montalcino, Hampstead, Reims, Geyserville. Welcome to Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar, bestselling novelist Jay McInerney's mixed four-case lot of wine essays culled primarily from his output of "Uncorked" pieces written for House & Garden magazine. Reflecting the author's wit and opinion, it's tasty and stylish stuff. And nestled between glossy pages of photos depicting, say, a 396-square-foot TriBeCa loft decorated with a pair of Eames chairs purchased at a Brooklyn swap meet for $45, McInerney's blend of self-deprecation (his "eyebrows raised and jaw dropped" when H&G editors broached his name as wine columnist) and irreverence (on straw-covered Chianti bottles: the "bong component of choice in dorm rooms around the world") is refreshing juice. Unfortunately, as a compilation, it serves more to unmask a Eurocentric name-dropper: the bon-mot-coining D2 dilettante on an expense account who got the gig because he knew the editor. It's distressing, because there's so much to like here: "A Ticket to the Veneto" is a sparkling meld of ego and yeast; questioning whether or not to cellar wine, he concludes, "What could be more all-American than instant gratification?"; and his dead-on description of a Port hangover is quintessential McInerney. But numerous repetitions, imperceptible when published monthly, irritate when separated not by 30 days but 30 pages: Sauvignon Blanc's aroma of "pipi du chat" is funny the first time you read it, less so two essays later; likewise you won't find a single California piece that doesn't contain the words "dude" or "Helen Turley." And while it's admirable to break the mould of stuffy wine writing, McInerney's a bit long in the tastevin to adopt a "Wine Brat" posture comparing, for example, Martinelli Jackass Hill Zin more to "Free Bird" than "Jumpin' Jack Flash," or describing his first sip of Mouton "like hearing Nirvana on Saturday Night Live." Blame it on the editor, or maybe it just depends on how you devour Bacchus & Me. Sipped slowly, McInerney's words taste of the passionate amateur oenophile and skilled raconteur. Gulp 'em down and the finish is of the bestselling bon vivant with a blank check. --Tony Mason

From the Back Cover:

With acerbic wit, irreverent tone, and bountiful hilarious anecdotes, Jay McInerney writes the first wine book that makes sense to all those dazed by the prevailing, dull technical wine writing. McInerney generously reveals all he's learned on his worldwide journey to understand wine in chapters on reds, whites, dessert wines, champagne, aperitifs, and more. McInerney holds forth in forty-nine essays - with agile humor; an astonishing amount of hard fact, and an ample dose of personal taste - on: how to make your way around a German wine label; what to drink with Thanksgiving turkey; the truth about Zinfandels; why Burgundy is so hard to predict; Napa Valley's finest winemakers; the pleasure of flinty Chablis, the deep satisfaction of port, the glorious potential of Oregon's Pinot Noir; the respectability of RosT; and the most colorful characters in the business. It is actually possible for a reader of Bacchus & Me to take what is learned to the bank, and immediately thereafter to wine shop or restaurant to indulge in the wine of his or her fantasy with the confidence of a sommelier. Bacchus & Me is for everyone interested in learning more about the wines of the world. For both those of broad means and of modest purse, there is intense vicarious pleasure to be found in McInerney's vinous adventures. (5 3/4 X 8 1/2, 308 pages)

About this edition

• Publisher: Lyons Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1585741868
• ISBN 13: 9781585741861
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 308