Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56763 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this entertaining oenological salvo, wine blogger and journalist Feiring makes an argument for wine authenticity through adherence to old techniques. She's against what she calls Big Wine—viticulture as business and technology—and blames the shrinking appreciation for hand-vinified, long-aged Old World wines (like the Barolo that eventually led to her career) on, among other things, the UC–Davis School of Enology and Viticulture and the wine writings of critic Robert M. Parker Jr. (of the book's title). But what sets her sprightly polemic apart is that her argument is pinned to a personal narrative of wine tours through Europe and California. Rounding out the Syrah-and-the-City parallels are several female characters who receive noms de vin like Honey-Sugar and the air-kissing Skinny, and most entertainingly of all, the author's Carrie-like relationships. Parker looms like Mr. Big over all Feiring's oenological relationships; they finally have a couple of phone dates that distill the differences between them down to quantifying (Parker) versus qualifying (Feiring). The author, who already has fans through her blog and other journalism, can count on new ones with this publication. (May)
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From Booklist
In the world of wine connoisseurship, Robert Parker’s evaluation of a bottle carries enormous influence. Winemakers bow to his opinion because Parker’s imprimatur can increase demand and thus the price a wine commands. Feiring resents Parker’s blatant hegemony, and she fights vociferously to convince both wine producers and consumers to consider other points of view. Feiring’s root concern is that Parker’s personal tastes govern how wines are now produced regardless of others’ equally informed perspectives and differing tastes. Increasing influence of corporations and big-business interests in what have been hitherto mostly small-family operations have magnified this tendency of the wine world to respond to just one arbiter’s preferences. Feiring traces the development of her own discerning palate and makes a passionate argument for individuality and personality in winemaking. Well-reasoned arguments such as this one over the aesthetics of wine attract a passionate audience. --Mark Knoblauch

Review
"Feiring is an unusually accessible wine writer, capable of conveying textures and scents and ancillary details without sounding as if she is conjugating the irregular verbs of a foreign language." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"I've always loved listening to Alice go on about wine, because she's so knowledgeable and passionate about it. Her book is like a long, nourishing talk with her." -- Frank Bruni, New York Times "Dining and Wine" blog

"Ms. Feiring is entertaining and passionate. And she knows a great wine when she tastes one." -- Eric Asimov, The New York Times

"Quirky and endearing... of herself, [Fiering] properly asks: "Oh, the quandary: When to speak up and when to hold my tongue?" Luckily for the reader, her tart tongue usually wins." -- New York Sun

"The great virtue of "The Battle for Wine and Love" is its unflinching look at what rings false in the wine world today -- the packaged, crinkle-cut uniformity of mass-production wines, the glossy allure of wine marketing and the sometimes tawdry ways in which producers believe their own hype." -- Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews

I desperately wanted to like this book..
To begin, I will mention that most of the bottles in my cellar would likely be bottles that Feiring would enjoy, and some of which I'd guess she'd love. It helps that my cellar is made up almost exclusively of Burgundy, but my guess is that she and I agree on many facets of the product of wine.

Because of this, and because we both dislike many seemingly unbalanced (read: fruit/alcohol bombs) wines, I felt pretty sure that I'd enjoy the book. Instead, I found myself feeling like I was listening more to a book of whine than a book on wine.

My issues:

+ Feiring goes on and on about her distaste for science's intervention into winemaking. On a couple of rare occasions in the book, she tries to convince the reader that she's not anti-science, but her arguments aren't convincing. There is nothing wrong with understanding wine scientifically, nor is there anything wrong with using that knowledge to make wines. Science goes into some of the best wines in the world -- perhaps not RO, but knowledge that isn't merely anecdotal helps to shape them.

+ This book has been compared to Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" in some reviews here. I couldn't disagree more. Pollan's book could be considered an opinion piece, but his stroke was much gentler. Additionally, he provided gobs more information on his topic. Feiring's material is almost all opinion and truly pushes the reader to believe what she's selling. I do realize that's the format of her book, but for those reasons I don't see the comparison to "The Omnivore's Dilemma".

+ Something about wine knowledge makes people rapidly become wine snobs. I'm guilty of it, and I think most are to some extent. However, I think one measure of a person's caliber is how they're able to educate without being condescending. On this, I give Feiring low marks (but not a failing grade).

+ Biodynamics is, essentially, religion. Natural farming is great, and components of biodynamics are natural, which likely help farming. However, Feiring's willing to make excuses for the oddities of biodynamics (cow dung buried in a horn, for example) where she's not willing to allow science the same leeway.

+ This one's a simple complaint, and for most can probably be dismissed, but please lose the subtitle. It's embarrassing.

All that said, there are some redeeming qualities to the book, those being that you may learn a thing or two about why romance is a big part of the package of wine for many enthusiasts. It certainly makes drinking more enjoyable for me.

Love/Hate Relationship With This Book
I first found out about this book from reading an article written by the author that appeared in the Los Angeles Times. In it, she seemed on the warpath, ready to offend anyone and anything as a means to get people to read her book to see what her outrageous statements were about. Myself, I thought this woman who criticized winemakers for manipulating wines into big, huge, bold styles in order to please Robert Parker and thus sell more bottles was guilty of the same thing, making outrageous statements and trying to create controversy in order to sell copies of her book.

However, I did agree in principle with what she was saying, that too often these days wines are manipulated into something that tries to please the consumer and they are losing their individuality. So I bought the book. Amazon's price makes it too attractive to pass up.

Pros: Ms. Feiring writes very well. She takes the reader around the globe in her adventures as we meet various winemakers on both sides of the fence, as she advances her argument against over-manipulation. I think most readers would be pretty surprised to find out what goes on in a lot of wineries in order to achieve the sort of wine they want to sell. It's a topic that does need to be more publicized.

Cons: Ms. Feiring sounds like she's taken out a contract on Robert Parker. She is so anti-Parker that it threatens the credibility of the book. She also tries to paint everything in black and white, as in small, family, old-fashioned winemakers = good guys and big, corporate, technology-utilizing winemakers = bad and evil guys. It's the same as people who automatically slam big corporations simply because they are big. She also tries to combine her romantic life with her discussion of the wines and I felt this added nothing to the book. In fact, I got tired of hearing about "Owl Man" and the others and was thinking, who cares?

If you can get past the chip (or boulder) that the author seems to have on her shoulder, this book is well worth reading. It will influence the way you perceive the next glass of wine you drink, as well as all the rest of them.

Love and Controversy in The Winery
I have been collecting, drinking and learning about wine since the late 60s. Recently was browsing books to see if there was anything new as far as pairing wine with some of the newer and more exotic cuisines. That I did not find but in browsing stumbled upon "The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization" by Alice Feiring. I had never heard of Alice but the title caught my eye because Robert Parker, who popularized the 100-point wine rating scale, is such a powerful figure in today's wine world. It also probably did not hurt that she is a self-described Jewish, Russian, redhead, wine geek with a finely tuned palate or that her jacket picture radiates a combination of intelligence, mystery, insight and determination. Once started I could not put the book down and read it during one cloudy Saturday afternoon. Since brevity is not the norm for wine books was pleasantly surprised at how much I learned. In a lively 268 pages she takes us behind the scenes for an insiders view of wine making, wines, techniques, producers and some of the controversies raging within the wine world. Intertwined with all the information is a lively and engaging story that makes it easy to digest the mountain of information. Feiring, an accomplished storyteller, combines her personal odyssey in the world of wine with serious and relevant issues that confront today's wine world.