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For those who have lived in Napa Valley for any period of time, this tale is as stale as a two-day-old baguette. Yet for non-Napans, House of Mondavi is an eye-opener, a wrenching look at the underbelly of the wine business for anyone who thinks it’s all about romance, verdant vineyards, striking architecture and basking on a veranda sipping wine. House is also a cautionary tale for any family business, demonstrating how nepotism, in-fighting, hubris and under-capitalisation can change the course of even the best of brands.

Mondavi family members argue bitterly over how to run their Charles Krug Winery; brothers Robert and Peter Mondavi come to blows; Robert is banished from Krug and rebounds to turn Robert Mondavi Winery into America’s most influential producer; his succession plans are foiled when his sons can’t agree on how to run the company; Robert Mondavi Corp is sold to Constellation Brands for $1.3 billion in 2004.

Author Julie Flynn Siler, a Wall Street Journal business writer who resides in Marin County – just far enough from Napa Valley to avoid unpleasant grocerystore run-ins with the Mondavis – conducted more than 500 hours of interviews with more than 250 people, and scrutinised public records, corporate documents and Wall Street filings to unearth the Mondavi story.

Her work is painstakingly detailed and annotated, and she won interviews with the major players and many of the minor ones. But there is a hole in her work, a failure to capture Robert Mondavi’s charisma and commitment to putting good wine and food on the American table. Siler describes his drive, yet doesn’t fully put into context the impact Robert Mondavi had on both the American wine drinker and his fellow winemakers.

What many learned only after the release of the book is that much of the windfall Robert received from the sale of Robert Mondavi Corp to Constellation was already committed to UC Davis’ Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa. Robert Mondavi’s philanthropic pledges to those organisations were made when Mondavi stock was up; as the value dropped, the family feared his promises could not be kept. The sale to Constellation ensured those causes would be funded, though at personal financial loss to the family.

That House of Mondavi was released on 19 June, a day after the infirm, wheelchairbound Robert Mondavi’s 94th birthday, is either a sales stunt of incredibly poor taste, or a case of appalling ignorance. Yet the book’s debut also comes at a time when the Mondavis are putting their divided house in order – Robert and two of his children, Tim and Marcia with their new Continuum wine, son Michael and his family with Folio Fine Wine Partners, and Peter, Marc and Peter Jr at Charles Krug, which is making major improvements in vineyards and winemaking. Siler’s book is just a chapter in the Mondavi saga, for surely more is to come.
Linda Murphy

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Here I will make two statements that are difficult to contradict. First, many estates that practice biodynamic viticulture make outstanding wines. Second, no one understands rationally how biodynamism works. I have now read two books by the high priest of biodynamism, Nicolas Joly, and I’m not sure he understands it either.

In his latest book Joly persuasively attacks interventionist viticulture, such as the use of herbicides, chemical fertilisers, industrial yeasts, and so forth. He is right to proclaim that terroir is an empty concept if the soil, the climate and the vine are manipulated into anonymity.

However, one might suppose that organic farming would be a sufficient rebuttal of the bizarre practice of poisoning vineyards to give farmers an easier life. Biodynamics goes much further. It invokes cosmic forces, elements such as air, light and water, the pull of gravity and the skyward reach of plant growth; it’s about harmony and energy and transmission.

To the converted, such as Joly himself and leading biodynamic growers such as Anne-Claude Leflaive in Burgundy and Christine Saahs in Austria, these are articles of faith. But Joly goes further, writing: ‘The effects of biodynamics derive from real laws’, but fails to offer much support for this. The beneficial effects of biodynamic applications, such as the use of cows’ horns, are asserted rather than explained: ‘The horn and hoof serve foremost...to retain in the cow’s interior the currents of forces which would otherwise seek to escape.’ Dung is placed within the horn and buried. Why? The dung, he explains, ‘is impregnated during the winter with forces or dynamisms active both in the horn and the earth.’ I hope that’s clear.

Those with an ingrained scepticism will not be persuaded by the mystical globalism of Rudolf Steiner and his disciples. Indeed, I know some practitioners of biodynamism who are not rationally persuaded either. But those curious to know more about the belief systems that underlie biodynamism will learn much from this book, even if, on concluding it, they chuck it aside and reach instead for a Meursault from Lafon, a Clos Jebsal from Zind-Humbrecht, or Joly’s own majestic wine from Coulée de Serrant. The wines themselves are more persuasive than the theories that nurtured them.
Stephen Brook

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No one is more convinced of the benefits of drinking wine than I am, but I sometimes despair more of wine’s friends than its enemies. I own, for instance, two books by a French doctor that take the subject deep into terroir, advising Bandol as a prescription for arthritis, Alsatian Riesling for diabetes, and Muscadet for cellulite. I also have acquaintances who think of the “French Paradox” as a shopping list.

I’d like all of them, and you, to read this book; it’s a thoughtful antidote to some of the junk science and wishful thinking that floats around the bounty of Bacchus. Roger Corder is Professor of Experimental Therapeutics at a hospital-based research institute in London, a skeptic, and a wine lover. He begins by informally detailing the science behind diets, nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle (including some debunking of the over-enthusiastic mythology that has grown up around the “French Paradox”). Those of us who dozed in science class needn’t worry—it’s all presented with remarkable clarity.

Much of the information is commonsense, but some is startling, including the fact that many foods we think of as “healthy” have lost much of that value after processing, even minimally. This includes red wine, as when it’s filtered, or pasteurized, or undergoes manipulation to lighten it into an “easy-drinking” style. In other words, dry-farmed, slow-ripening, old-vine, non-filtered, tannic, truly “non-interventionist” red wine is best for you; the fact that it’s some of the best-tasting is a lovely bonus.

There is a pungent and useful no-nonsense chapter on diet myths in general, and a selection of 50 recipes that also incorporate some other protective ingredients. Moderation in all things is advocated throughout. This is quite possibly the most useful wine book published this year.
Brian St. Pierre

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The Wines of Chile is a fascinating and extensive journey through the country¹s wine regions, terroirs, and grape varieties. The author, who lived in Chile in 1999, has written this book in a very accessible language and clearly reflects upon the current reality of Chilean wine through its 10 regions and 127 of its major producers.

Despite Richards' closer relation with his subject, he still maintains the distance necessary to retain an outsider's perspective, offering constructive criticism like when he refers to new Chilean wine icon category, one of the strongest trends in Chile: ³It would be better to take time to develop these wines and the vineyards that supply them before releasing wines that, if they ultimately disappoint, may not only damage a winery¹s reputation, but Chilean wine in general.

The book also includes a complete analysis region by region, excellent maps that illustrate country¹s geography and trends, not only of the varieties that are becoming increasing important, such as Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, and Pinot Noir (in addition to the already well-known Cabernet Sauvignon), but also of new valleys like San Antonio, Limarí, Elqui, and Bío- Bío, and others that continue to appear in an industry described by Richards as having tremendous potential for diversity and quality.

The Wines of Chile is clearly the most serious and in-depth book written to date on the wines from this South American country, but also a good tool for a tourist visiting Chile to taste its generous diversity of wines.
Héctor Riquelme

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James Halliday is Australia’s most revered wine writer - he is a true force to be reckoned with and is regarded internationally as one of the world’s foremost wine authorities. Having tasted with him on numerous occasions, I am delighted to inform you that he also has a rapier sharp palate and an encyclopaedic and inquisitive wine mind. During thirty odd years in the wine business he was one of the founders of Brokenwood in the Hunter Valley and established Coldstream Hills in the Yarra Valley, as well as writing fifty or so books and literally thousands of articles. This man is a walking wine atlas, but could he update his famous tome after an eight year gap – eight years which have changed the face of the Australian wine scene forever? Halliday’s challenge was to try and put this immense knowledge down in a coherent and ordered manner, capturing the mood and colour of this fascinating country, without boring the audience, but by also performing the task of being the indispensable Australian reference book.

To my mind this aim has been met and achieved in style. An atlas needs good maps – these are the best I have seen, and I have referred to them almost every day since I received my review copy of this book in the post. An atlas also needs a cracking index – it is all there. The individual winery write ups are bang up to date – the most accurate of their kind. They are admittedly concise, and I would like to have seen more information on some of the more important companies, but they contain the essential information for the wine lover and wine tourist – address, website, cellar door info and a ‘signature wine’ (Yalumba’s signature wine is, of course, Signature!).

The photographs throughout the book are stunning and very well reproduced. In fact the entire book has a very luxurious feel about it. With 310 pages and weighing in at a meaty 2kgs, this is a lot of book for your buck. I like the way that you can dip in and out of this atlas, but also sit down and work your way through a state without slowing and getting bogged down with what I call ‘wine padding’.

Each state and region gets a pithy introduction and then some snappy pull outs drill down into the specific climates, soils and principal grape varieties and styles of wine therein. Latitude, altitude, degree days, mean temperatures and viticultural hazards are all noted, too, so you can instantly get a handle on each region.

I particularly like the fact that no stone is left unturned. Every region in the country gets a look in. Some I have never even heard of – Queensland is a massive hole in my Aussie knowledge but Halliday’s work educated me in a matter of minutes as to the finer points of South Burnett and its Bjelke-Peterson Dam and the dentist duo of Smith and Thumpkin and their Leaf Series wines at Preston Peak in the Darling Downs! This is a very detailed book. It has done what no other atlas has done before for me and that is increase my thirst for wine (I didn’t think this was possible). I now want to track down and taste these obscure wines, visit off the beaten track regions and make sure that I don’t miss out on the special ‘signature’ wines from every estate in the book.
Matthew Jukes

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