Book Review: Understanding a wine's complicated past

"It all started, according to author Mike Weiss, when his wife asked him as they were drinking a California red wine, ''Did you ever think about all that goes into a bottle of wine?"

It turns out that making a wine is a complex dance. Many elements can careen out of control: the weather, the vine-pruning, the quality of the oak barrel in which the wine is stored, the exact moment to harvest the grapes, and even the kind of cork.

Weiss, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, tells a compelling story. He chooses a medium-sized winemaker, the Ferrari-Carano Vineyards in California's Sonoma County, and a 2002 Fume Blanc wine that sells at retail for about $14 a bottle. He says, ''I wanted to write about a bottle of wine that I might buy."

Weiss shows us the people who make up the wine industry, especially proprietor Don Carano, a Reno casino developer."

Purchase A Very Good Year : The Journey of a California Wine from Vine to Table from Amazon.com.

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June 12, 2005

Book Review: Understanding a wine's complicated past