I recently finished Bacchus & Me, Adventures in the Wine Cellar by Jay McInerney. McInerney is perhaps most famous for his novel Bright Lights, Big City, a glamours tear through New York City in the ’80s. It was later made into a movie. The reader quickly learns that the author’s real life seems little less racy and glamorous than the characters of his masterpiece. He starts this book by introducing himself and explaining how he expanded his literary world to encompass writing about wine. From there, the book discusses everything from Robert Parker and his impact on the business of selling and drinking wine, to what he considers to be the most romantic wine in the world. (I won’t ruin it for you but I bet you can guess.) It is highly anecdotal and very entertaining. McInerney has a conversational, self effacing style that is engaging and easy to read. No matter how much he tries to play down his knowledge, contacts and obvious influence in the world of wine, his expertise in tasting and writing about wine and acclaim as a novelist must account for many of the intoxicating stories he relates.
The book is organized in sections, each one dealing with a different type or style of wine or more generally regions of countries where distinctive wine is produced. Each chapter spans just a few pages. It’s a wonderful beginner’s guide to wine: what it’s made from, who it’s made by, what makes it special and the best bottles to look for and it’s all brought to life through the marriage of information with stories of high life living.
Although the stories are riveting and romantic, what really shines through is the author’s passion and knowledge of wine. McInerney wants the reader to love wine as much as he does. He has a way of maintaining all that is romantic, mysterious and alluring about wine while striping away a lot of the pretentious ceremony that can make it intimidating and less enjoyable. There is the perfect balance of information and narrative to make the reader envy the author without writing him off as a boorish wine snob. McInerney, although clearly not just some guy at home with a ten dollar bottle of Cabernet, he makes the reader feel he would not be above inviting them to come along on one of his fantastic trips to taste wine out of a barrel with Helen Turley some time.
I thought Bacchus & Me was a fantastic read. It gave the reader just enough of everything to keep them interested and most will be more wine savvy upon completion. If one is looking for a novel or a linear account of an episode, this book is not for them. Each chapter is only thematically related to the previous one. If one is searching for an interesting book about wine, writing about wine, and drinking wine in fancy places, this book comes highly recommended.
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