Product Description

Jay McInerney on wine? Yes, Jay McInerney on wine! The best-selling novelist has turned his command of language and flair for metaphor on the world of wine, providing this sublime collection of untraditional musings on wine and wine culture that is as fit for someone looking for “a nice Chardonnay” as it is for the oenophile.

On champagne: “Is Dom Pérignon worth four bottles of Mo‘t & Chandon? If you are a connoisseur, a lover, a snob, or the owner of a large oceangoing craft, the answer . . . is probably yes.”
On the difficulty of picking a wine for a vegetarian meal: “Like boys and girls locked away in same-sex prep schools, most wines yearn for a bit of flesh.”
On telling the difference between Burgundy and Bordeaux: “If it’s red, French, costs too much, and tastes like the water that’s left in the vase after the flowers have died, it’s probably Burgundy.”
On the fungus responsible for the heavenly flavor of the dessert wine called Sauternes: “Not since Baudelaire smoked opium has corruption resulted in such beauty.”

Includes new material plus recommendations on the world’s most romantic wines and the best wines to pair with a meal

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #328631 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-12
• Released on: 2002-03-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Amazon.com
Bright lights: Krug, Latour, Lafite, Montrose. Big cities: Montalcino, Hampstead, Reims, Geyserville. Welcome to Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar, bestselling novelist Jay McInerney's mixed four-case lot of wine essays culled primarily from his output of "Uncorked" pieces written for House & Garden magazine. Reflecting the author's wit and opinion, it's tasty and stylish stuff. And nestled between glossy pages of photos depicting, say, a 396-square-foot TriBeCa loft decorated with a pair of Eames chairs purchased at a Brooklyn swap meet for $45, McInerney's blend of self-deprecation (his "eyebrows raised and jaw dropped" when H&G editors broached his name as wine columnist) and irreverence (on straw-covered Chianti bottles: the "bong component of choice in dorm rooms around the world") is refreshing juice. Unfortunately, as a compilation, it serves more to unmask a Eurocentric name-dropper: the bon-mot-coining D2 dilettante on an expense account who got the gig because he knew the editor. It's distressing, because there's so much to like here: "A Ticket to the Veneto" is a sparkling meld of ego and yeast; questioning whether or not to cellar wine, he concludes, "What could be more all-American than instant gratification?"; and his dead-on description of a Port hangover is quintessential McInerney. But numerous repetitions, imperceptible when published monthly, irritate when separated not by 30 days but 30 pages: Sauvignon Blanc's aroma of "pipi du chat" is funny the first time you read it, less so two essays later; likewise you won't find a single California piece that doesn't contain the words "dude" or "Helen Turley." And while it's admirable to break the mould of stuffy wine writing, McInerney's a bit long in the tastevin to adopt a "Wine Brat" posture comparing, for example, Martinelli Jackass Hill Zin more to "Free Bird" than "Jumpin' Jack Flash," or describing his first sip of Mouton "like hearing Nirvana on Saturday Night Live." Blame it on the editor, or maybe it just depends on how you devour Bacchus & Me. Sipped slowly, McInerney's words taste of the passionate amateur oenophile and skilled raconteur. Gulp 'em down and the finish is of the bestselling bon vivant with a blank check. --Tony Mason

Robert M. Parker, Editor and Publisher ,The Wine Advocate
Some of the finest writing on the subject of wine... brilliant,witty,comical,and often shamelessly candid.

Review
“Brilliant, witty, comical, and often shamelessly candid and provocative thoughts about the world of wine and many of the people who produce it.” –Robert M. Parker, Jr.

“McInerney has become the best wine writer in America.” –Salon.com

“McInerney’s wine judgments are sound, his anecdotes witty and his literary references impeccable. Not many wine books are good reads; this one is.” –The New York Times

“In the fruity, buttery world of wine writing, there’s nothing else like it.” –Atlanta Journal

Customer Reviews

Not your average Wine book
I'll admit it I bought this collection of wine essays because I liked the title. Also, because there was a blurb in the dust jacket about French and German wine. I began reading the chapters in order of interest, not in the order in the book. After the first essay I was blown away with the descriptions. McInerney doesn't talk about wine like the rest of them. I thought, "this guy writes so well, this is like reading a novel." Then referring to the dust jacket again I discovered he um well has experience in that area too. Despite being fun to read, McInerney packs a lot of information into each essay. This book will not tell you everything you want to know about wine - it isn't an intro to wine collecting or a reference to keep through the ages as you collect wine. It is a collection of unique musings on the wonderful subject of wine. I loved it.

One trick pony
Jay McInerney was one of the voices of the 1980s, the era known for its conspicuous consumption, self-absorption and decadence. With this book, he seems intent on singing the same song years after the curtain was drawn.

Ostensibly, this is a book about wines -- one of my passions -- and for the first few dozen pages it appears to be just that. There are some interesting and unusual observations about wine on the pages of Bacchus & Me, and Mr. McInerney deserves credit (hence the three stars) for breaking many of the crusty and useless conventions that limit most wine literature.

But the more one reads the book, the more one realizes that the chapters are less about wine than about Mr. McInerney himself. He reveals himself as a shameless name dropper, and someone most interested in repeating a half dozen humorous and entertaining observations in a variety of contexts while boasting about his fat expense account and privileged access to bottles of wine that most of us will never even see.

The problem is not that these lines are uninteresting or irrelevant -- as an occasional aside they would add to the intriguing take on one of the world's most written-about subjects. But in the frequency in which they appear here they can leave a throbbing in the head like an old bottle of jug wine does, when what we really wanted was one of those fine bottles of Bordeaux Mr. McInerney seems to be in love with.

Wine...by a wine lover
This book is the most fun I've experienced, doing something that sounds instinctively wrong... reading about wine!

McInerney is well-versed in the lore and diversity of the wine world and converts his knowledge and experience into an informative, entertaining and engrossing read.

I should warn you the content is laden with McInerney's quirky sense of humor - it's not for everyone. For those who don't like smart, intelligent use of humor as metaphor, don't buy this book.

For those who can handle wine with a twisted sense of humor, no matter how much you know or don't know about wine you will find value in this book. It is perfect for reading on a trans-atlantic flight (perhaps to France) or on a rainy afternoon at your place at the beach. In fact, you will read this book again and again, it's that magnetic.