Nick Wise &
Linda Sunshine will be signing copies of
Celebrity Vineyards: From Napa to Tuscany in Search of Great Wine on Saturday, April 13th, from 5 - 7 p.m.
Authors Nick Wise and editor Linda Sunshine travel the US and Europe to
profile and photograph world-famous vineyards, their famous owners, and
their famous wines.
From the hills of Napa to the mountain slopes
of Tuscany, author Nick Wise went in search of great wine and famous
people who are also winemakers. His astonishing trip, the wines he
tasted and the incredible people he met are recounted in loving and
often humorous detail in this fully illustrated and eminently readable
new book.
After spending more than twenty years in the wine
trade, specializing in the champagnes of France, Wise decided he wanted
to meet people who had fulfilled one of his lifelong fantasies: to own a
vineyard and produce wines. In the past few years, helming a winery has
becoming more and more popular among the rich and famous. People from
the worlds of music, sports and entertainment were slapping their names
on wine bottles and declaring themselves vintners. But how much
involvement in the actual process of winemaking did these people
actually have? What was it like to get into winemaking after having a
successful career in another field? Were these people merely
endorsements or were they part of the incredibly difficult process of
creating great wine from a field of grapes?
To find out, Nick
Wise journeyed to Central and Northern California to interview such
winemakers as B.R. Cohn, manager of the Doobie Brothers, screenwriter
Robert Kamen of The Karate Kid fame, race car drivers Mario Andretti and
Randy Lewis, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary football
coach Dick Vermeil, acclaimed chef Charlie Palmer, the Walt Disney
family, and the estates of former TV actors Raymond Burr and Fess
Parker. In the Niagara Wine Valley, he visited the wine estates of actor
Dan Aykroyd and hockey great Wayne Gretsky. And in the hills of
Tuscany, he tasted the wines of racecar driver Jarno Trulli, adult film
star Natalie Oliveros (known professionally as Savanna Samson), and
world-renowned composer Ludovico Einaudi. Wise's last visit was to the
hills of Spain where he toured Anta Banderas, the winery of Antonio
Banderas. Finally, he includes a chapter on America's very first
vintner, Thomas Jefferson, whose Monticello estate is still producing
wine from the grapes that the Third President of America planted more
than 200 years ago.
The story of Nick's journey through wine
country is filled with adventure, new discoveries, amazing people and,
most important, brilliant wines (and some that are not so brilliant.)
Written for fans of wine, travel, and the rich and famous, Celebrity
Vineyards is a fascinating journey into a world that, for most of us, is
only a dream. But what an amazing dream it is!
Some of these
winemakers started making wine by accident, having bought land where
grapes were already growing. After selling their grapes to other
wineries, they decided to make a few bottles for themselves and the
business grew from there. Others, like Robert Kamen, started from
scratch with a plot of rocky land that required jackhammering to plant
the vines. Some were born into historic winemaking families; others
learned the craft from their grandparents who were hobbyist vintners.
Some, like Charlie Palmer, make wine from harvest to labels because it
is an activity to share with the whole family.
These stories will
delight and fascinate anyone interested in people of passion who live
out their dreams. Here are artists and entrepreneurs, dreamers and
business people who all share a love of wine, a respect for the grape
and a joy of creating something amazing out of the land. Like a great
glass of wine, these are people who will touch your heart and stay in
your memory. Whether you are a wine connoisseur or can barely taste the
different between red and rose, Celebrity Vineyards will delight, charm
and educate your palate.
