Here the award-winning author Richard Mendelson brings us a jewel: the story of how one prized grape variety, Cabernet Sauvignon, transformed a little-known California farming community into America’s most celebrated wine-growing region. And what a love story it is!
From the first plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon in the 19th Century to the surprise triumphs of Napa Valley wines at the fabled Judgment of Paris, Mendelson shows us, up close, the wisdom and passion of the daring pioneers, artists, and craftsmen who brought us a wealth of magnificent
wines and in the process turned the Napa Valley into a world-renowned showcase for the very best in American wine, culture, and cuisine.
For the past three decades, Mendelson has lived this story from the inside, as a winemaker, an author, and as a leading attorney and adviser in the valley, helping shape and protect its vineyards and its future. In these pages, he brings us enlightening personal portraits and reflections from many of the giants of American wine: André Tchelistcheff, Maynard Amerine, Robert Mondavi, Warren Winiarski, and Bill Harlan.
As Mendelson emphasizes, wine is art, wine is culture, and wine is history. Accordingly, he shares with us a rich array of historical portraits, maps, lithographs, and a wealth of contemporary photography. The result is both a definitive chronicle of the rise of the Napa Valley and a deeply human portrait of the vintners, growers, and visionaries who built it and who now work so hard to protect its future.
