'Overheard' on Facebook

[Jenise]

Someone shared this story:

In 1972 I purchased my first wine book "The Signet Book of Wine". I fondly recall my favorite review - a white wine from Arkansas. "A sample of this wine was sent to Arkansas State University for analysis. The reply came back- Your horse has diabetes."

And that was before Naked Wines came along!

[Robin Garr]

This is scary! I remember that book, and I remember that review! (It was originally a beer joke, though.)

I had the Signet, one of my earliers wine books - not in '72, but in the late '70s, it was still around. Even then I didn't think it was up to my favorites, the early Hugh Johnson books, Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia and Terry Robards' NY Times encyclipedia.

This is scary! I remember that book, and I remember that review! (It was originally a beer joke, though.)

I had the Signet, one of my earliers wine books - not in '72, but in the late '70s, it was still around. Even then I didn't think it was up to my favorites, the early Hugh Johnson books, Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia and Terry Robards' NY Times encyclipedia.

I would add the Alexis Bespaloff book to that list. That's about all their was out there back then. Maybe Alexis Lichine.

[Robin Garr]

I would add the Alexis Bespaloff book to that list.

Bespaloff edited an updated reprint of Schoonmaker ... is that the one you're thinking of? Or did he put out another in his own right? I had Lichine's encyclopedia at that time, too, and it was interesting in having a much more French viewpoint (even in English) than Schoonmaker or Robards. I mean, that seems obvious, but in retrospect, I think there was a lot more space between the hemispheres then.

[David M. Bueker]

You can find some funny tasting notes if you dig around CellarTracker for a bit. Then there are the dreaded scores. I always enjoy it when someone pans a wine, using words such as awful, dreadful, and then you see "90 points."

I would add the Alexis Bespaloff book to that list.

Bespaloff edited an updated reprint of Schoonmaker ... is that the one you're thinking of? Or did he put out another in his own right? I had Lichine's encyclopedia at that time, too, and it was interesting in having a much more French viewpoint (even in English) than Schoonmaker or Robards. I mean, that seems obvious, but in retrospect, I think there was a lot more space between the hemispheres then.

Wasn't Alexis one of the writers for the Signet?

He wrote about a half dozen wine books, not the least were: "Alexis Bespaloff's Guide to Inexpensive Wines" and "The Fireside Book of Wine."

Here's a Frank Prial tribute on Alexis' death a few years ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/24/nyreg ... aloff.html

I had the great pleasure to work with Bespaloff a couple of times on competitions in the 1980s. He was at first shy and reticent, but then became more expansive and talkative. He was a sophisticated man, polite and old-worldly in his manners, enormously witty, loved a good joke, and wasn't above a pun either. The Signet book, the Guide, and for me above all the Fireside Companion were all well-written, concise, not overly gushy, and good basic, well-written standards on wine.

I also had the experience---I could not call it a pleasure---of working with Alexis Lichine for a few years. I had been using his books on wine as a good basic guideline, and at the time he and Schoonmaker were the names to conjure with. I agree with Robin that he had more of a European take, although he was much better known and much more influential in the American market. I valued meeting him, but sad to say by the time I met him he had essentially sold out his name---the famous Alexis Lichine Selection of wines---and he was old, tired, bored to death, and had lost any lustre he had previously had. His talks and presentations were reflective of that; he simply had no interest any more. That, of course, was the same time that he had essentially ceased to be involved in Burgundy and was spending most of his time and effort with Lascombes/Prieure-Lichine.

(The best thing about Lichine was, in the early days at least, his Alexis Lichine Selections actually were selected with his input and ALW managed to put out some stellar bargains of surpassingly good commune/village wines from Burgundy. You could practically chart Burgundy north to south with Lichine's selections and have a good idea of the styles. The other big hit---and keep in mind this is just before the onslaught of California White Zinfandel---was the Lichine Rose d'Anjou. We sold containers of that stuff. After white zin happened, you couldn't give the stuff away.)

My beacon was Hugh Johnson. Loved his writing style, but more than anything he influenced me with his World Atlas of Wine, not his comments and criticisms. His maps, alongside his commentary, made terroir palpable, when no one in America was using the term. To be able to visually trace the demarcation lines in fine detail in the Beaune or Nuits, to be able to see the clear combinations of grape, place and excellence in wine...that was the catalyst for me, the thing that snapped everything into place. It was....well, it was akin to looking through a set of binoculars at an object, fiddling with the control knob, and then having everything in the picture suddenly snap into perfect, bright, vividly etched clarity. From that point on, everything started making sense, and I was hooked as a wine geek.

[Jenise]

Hoke, I could have just about written your last paragraph about my own early days. The single most important book in my early days of smittendom, far more than any other for exactly the reasons you cite, was Hughes' Atlas.

Yes. Hugh Johnson's Atlas was inspirational.

I remember when Alexis B. had a radio spot in NYCity in the 70s. His talks, along with Leigh Knowles' wonderful Beaulieu radio ads, were delightful and accessible.

A little later but one of the more "inspirational" writers, and one of the most polished conversationalists I have ever known, was the remarkable Gerald Asher.

Gerald introduced me to so much---like my very first Gavi dei Gavi La Scolca, which broke some barriers that shouldn't have been there in the first place and had a Coleridgean effect on my budding wine awareness----and enlightened me so much in his gentle but evocative lyrical storytelling---for that was what Gerald did: he regaled you, enticed you, charmed you with stories, all of which included wine. His one article on Beaujolais, for instance, was a work of art. Another (in his book of collected essays from Gourmet), his story of attempting to set up a comprehensive dessert wines and foods pairing was also, without a doubt, one of the most hilarious things in wine I have ever read (never mind that I was learning so much from it at the same time).

One of the most impressive events I ever witnessed was in a private room dinner gathering of mostly crusty old ITB people, soft-voiced Gerald managed to effortlessly command the room and control the flow and tenor of the gathering througout the entire evening. It was masterfully done, because it was difficult to discern he was doing anything at all, but he was in absolute control of that entire room.

And Thomas, yes, you're right about Leigh. I was charmed by him on many occasions. Did you ever hear him play, or see him dance?

And Thomas, yes, you're right about Leigh. I was charmed by him on many occasions. Did you ever hear him play, or see him dance?

Play: yes--dance: no.

When I worked in the audio visual business producing industrial shows, we produced a combination 35mm slide and 16mm film presentation that Beaulieu used in its visitor center for more than a decade. Knowles and I met in 1979 to talk about updating the production, but instead we drank Riesling all afternoon. He was in fact the person who gave me the final push to get into the wine business.

I relied on Schoonmaker in my introductory days of sampling the wine world. I remember being in a wine shop in Burgundy and looking through the Schoonmaker book to get some idea of what to purchase. The clerk took me seriously because I was studying my purchase and not just grabbing a random bottle off the shelf like most of my fellow travelers (we were on an art history tour of Burgundy and were getting wines for a picnic lunch.) I ended up with a Savigny les Beaune.
I met Hugh Johnson once at a Les Amis du Vin dinner in Washington, DC.

Hoke, I could have just about written your last paragraph about my own early days. The single most important book in my early days of smittendom, far more than any other for exactly the reasons you cite, was Hughes' Atlas.

Same here. I have my original copy.