Around the World in Eighty Wines

July 24, 2017
Inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, Veseth’s personal journey through the complex and compelling world of wine starts and ends on London’s St. James’s Street, home to fine-wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd since 1698. Along the way, Veseth tours Bordeaux and Burgundy, where some of the world’s best wines are made, and visits the more uncharted wine-growing territories of Bali, Thailand, and Tasmania. Veseth chooses the wines he profiles based on the ability of each to excite the palate, and the imagination: “Each of eighty wines must tell a story, must not just each tell their own story.... They must collectively form a picture and tell a story that reveals a greater truth,” he writes. As a result, reading his book is rather like attending a swanky cocktail party: it contains a vast and varied buffet, with loads of interesting conversational tidbits. The book makes for an entertaining introduction to the world of wines. As an added bonus, the author also provides a bibliography for those wishing to delve deeper into the topic.

October 1, 2017
Veseth undetakes a global adventure seeking stories of the people, places, and cultures that are the essence of what makes wine so unique: an intoxicating enchantment that draws in people from all walks of life. Casting off from the historic Berry Bros. & Rudd wine shop in London, Veseth embarks on a long and fascinating trip that includes not only expected areas, like France, Italy, Australia, and California, but also places less known for wine making, such as Syria, Kenya, and Virginia. Each leg of the journey is documented through interesting stories, with a small selection of representative wines listed at the end of the chapter. A wine economist, Veseth often discusses the varying impacts such influences as war and climate change have on the wine industry in the particular regions. The jet-setting course would have been well served by accompanying maps to give readers a better sense of direction, and possibly a few select tasting notes on the more elusive wines. The final list of wines discussed is much longer than the 80 that readers will anticipate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)