The Bottom Line
An amusing book to dip into while you're dipping into the waters lapping at the shore of your Greek island of choice.
Pros
- Love wine? This is your beach book, a humorous look at wines
- Lambert-Gocs has an eye for the characters behind the wines, divine and human
- Don't miss the controversial "Great Revelation" in the Addendum - surprisingly serious news for wine
Cons
- Not entirely about Greece, though Dionysos is very much an influence.
- This is a humorous book, may not suit those who take wine very, very seriously.
- The satirical "news reports" on wine from 2048 can confuse if you're dipping into the book randomly.
Description
- Want something more serious? Try the author's more traditional wine book, "The Wines of Greece".
- While the tone is humorous throughout, the chapter called "Earth Science 101" is a good intro to ancient wines.
- Greek wine lovers will especially appreciate a chapter that combines Greek shadow theater with wine commentary.
Guide Review - Book
I've got to smile over any book that starts with a fictional interview between CNN and Dionysus, the Greek god of wine.
Since Lambert-Gocs loves wine, all wines, some of his insights are especially apt for Greek wines, some of which are not as developed as wines elsewhere. He takes as much pleasure in a rough wine properly paired with hearty tradtional foods as he does in detailing his sophisticated discovery of a complex ancestry for Cabernet which leads directly back to a varietal born in Greece. This controversial chapter is hidden as an Addendum at the end of the book, under the self-deprecating subtitle "Wine Bore Bonus". Reading it, one suspects Lambert-Gocs has a few more serious comments to make about wine, but that will have to wait until another book.
