Adventures on the Wine Route

October 1, 1988
``Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull,'' declares wine importer Lynch in this robustly irreverent account of his quest through France in search of wine. Lynch's winefoolery is serious; drollery never compromises his knowledge of his subject or his high standards. Even when mocking the misdeeds of viniculturalists, he remains an arbiter who merely wishes ``wine could be a constitutionally protected form of expression.'' Hating wine hype, Lynch criticizes modern agricultural and manufacturing methods with equal fervor. He laughs at trends in wine consumption, and singles out modern greed as a corrupter. Effortlessly eloquent, Lynch is a master of the brief barb: ``Loving Chablis is like falling in love with a frigid floozy.'' The author prefers a wine that offers ``a subtle seduction; it keeps you coming back for more.'' So too with this unusual guide: it makes you thirst for a sequel. Photos not seen by PW.