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Napa Valley Wines, Wineries and Winemaking The Wine Bible By Karen MacNeil Paperback. 984 pages. 2001 Amazon.com's Best of 2001 Note: Although this book is not specifically about Napa Valley (or even California) wine, it's too good not to include in our list. And you will find extensive information on Napa Valley wines and wineries. Though it drinks deep of its subject, Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible deftly avoids two traps many wine books fall into: talking down to wine novices or talking up to more experienced enophiles. The book avoids these traps through MacNeil's obvious, and infectious, love of her subject, which comes out in almost every sentence of the book, and which lets her talk about wine in a way that combines the good teacher, the trusted friend, and the expert sommelier. As director of the wine program at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, California, MacNeil is one of the world's true experts on wine. After reading a chapter on the Burgenland, for example, you've learned about the region's sweet wines while feeling like you're actually there, toasting a glass of Cuvee Suss with the author. It is this passion that leads to describing an Italian riservas as "mesmerizing" and a Cabernet Sauvignon as having "texture like cashmere." The Wine Bible is broken into countries, hitting all of the major wine producers and most of the minor ones. Each section gives detailed descriptions of the country's wines (with chapters on individual regions when necessary), highlighting specific wine producers and individual wines, as well as talking about local foods, customs, and other tidbits that add to the reading experience. MacNeil begins her journey through the world's wine with an invaluable section on "Mastering Wine," which lets a reader get ready before uncorking separate sections. --A.J. Rathbun (Amazon.com) 
Napa Valley : The Land, the Wine, the Peopleby Charles O'Rear Hardcover: 232 pages. 2001. When National Geographic sent Charles O'Rear to photograph a little-known region of Napa Valley for a book about rural America, he was immediately enthralled by the area's natural beauty and vibrant tradition of winemaking. He soon made the valley his home and in the twenty-three years since, he has watched it grow from an obscure, secluded hollow in the California landscape to an internationally recognized food and wine destination. O'Rear has accumulated thousands of photographs of his idyllic environs, the best of which are brought together in this awe-inspiring volume. Each photo exhibits an artistry and grandeur imbued with the familiarity and immediacy that can only be gleaned by a Napa Valley local. From the people who grow the grapes and create the wines to the variety of winery architecture and unrivaled vistas that distinguish the land, NAPA VALLEY offers a personal and stunning look at the places, people, and events that have shaped this now-famous region. Without a doubt, O'Rear's collection is the most original and comprehensive treasury ever assembled on Napa Valley. Charles O'Rear photographed for National Geographic for twenty-five years and since 1990 has produced four books on wine. He began photographing winemaking when he moved to Napa Valley in 1978, and today owns the largest collection of wine photography in the United States. He resides in beautiful St. Helena, California. - From the publisher  Napa Valley: The Ultimate Winery Revised and Updated by Antonia Allegra, Richard Gillette, Robert Mondavi Paperback: 120 pages; 2000. Award-winning travel and food writer Antonia Allegra captures the gracious feel of the wine country with in-depth descriptions of 30 wineries, creative touring suggestions, and information on winemaking and local history. A must for both wine connoisseurs and travelers. 150 full-color photographs.  Napa Valley Impressions by Jerry Alexander Paperback. 96 pages. 1999. This beautiful collection of Napa Valley images, spanning ten years, is complemented by twenty-two personal stories. From Robert Mondavi to vineyard worker Arnulfo Solorio, this book offers an intimate view of the valley as experienced by the people who live and work here. Napa Valley Impressions, 8.375" x 11.1" in size, contains over 120 color images on 96 pages. The use of 160 gsm weight coated paper combined with the high gloss cover, give a feeling of substance readers will appreciate as they leaf through the book, gazing at the beautiful photographs that chronicle life in the Napa Valley, captured by the lens of a native son. Jerry Alexander is a professional photographer who was born, raised and lives in the Napa Valley. He also raises 9 acres of grapes on his farm in Napa Valley for the wine industry. His work has appeared in the National Geographic, The Wine Spectator, The Wine Enthusiast, Decanteur Magazine, and Appellation Magazine. - From the publisher  A Sense of Place: An Intimate Portrait of the Niebaum-Coppola Winery and the Napa Valley by Steven Kolpan, Francis Ford Coppola Hardcover. 224 pages. 1999. Obscenely wealthy entrepreneurs--men who made their bundle in the coffee business, mining, shipping, commodities, and politics--decide to buy hobby vineyards in the trendy Napa Valley. The San Francisco Examiner publishes a special lifestyle edition on California wines. Sound familiar? Welcome to Rutherford, California circa 1890. And welcome to A Sense of Place: An Intimate Portrait of the Niebaum-Coppola Winery and the Napa Valley by Steven Kolpan, professor of wine studies at The Culinary Institute of America. By charting the history of one piece of Napa soil, the author provides an absolutely fascinating tour that is part documentary, part Hollywood fable, and part scathing chronicle of corporate ineptitude. When Finnish mariner-turned-San-Francisco-millionaire Gustav Niebaum establishes Inglenook Estate in 1879, his dream is to make the finest wine in California. His heir comes close to fulfilling the dream before selling a portion of the estate to a wine co-op, which is purchased by liquor giant Heublein. Heublein turns the once-proud estate into a jug wine brand. Meanwhile, the heir's Mormon wife--who hates everything about the wine business--sells the original house and remaining vineyards to film director Francis Ford Coppola, who 20 years later buys Heublein's parcel to reunite the original estate. Chapters recount this tale through the recollections of Rafael Rodriguez, a migrant laborer working at the property in the 1950s and now vineyard manager; Scott McLeod, current Niebaum-Coppola "winegrower" and artisan of the high-end Rubicon; and Dennis Fife, Inglenook's final president during the tumultuous Heublein days and now a respected winemaker in his own right, in a chapter that reads like a financial report written by Mel Brooks. Captain Niebaum's 1884 Inglenook Claret sold for $3 a case. Coppola's 1995 Rubicon was $75 a bottle. For the price of A Sense of Place, every Cabernet fan will be able to savor a little piece of "Rutherford dust." --Tony Mason (Amazon.com) Bottled Poetry : The Seasons of the Vine by Jamie Davies, Jack Davies Hardcover. 144 pages. 1997. While on his honeymoon in 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson traveled to the Napa Valley and chanced upon the Schramsberg Vineyards, where he tasted California wines. Here in glorious images and evocative text--including Stevenson's essay, "Napa Wines"--is Schramsberg's remarkable story and its role in the ongoing evolution of California wine. 110 illustrations, 40 in full color. - Ingram Cole's Insider's Guide to the Wines and Vines of Napa County by Austin Peter Moss (Editor) Paperback. 1991 From the Grape to the Glass (in Plain English)
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