Category: Book Reviews

Whether you’re a biodynamic wine enthusiast or a skeptic who thinks it’s something only dirty hippies and Sting are into, you’ll learn something new from Voodoo Vintners: Oregon’s Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers (Oregon State University Press/Corvallis). Renowned wine writer Katherine Cole paints a picture of biodynamicism as a spiritual, “beyond organic” style of farming, practiced by… Continue reading Voodoo Vintners

Maybe you need something a little stronger than wine, or perhaps you’re looking for your new signature cocktail. Or maybe you’re hosting a party and haven’t stocked your home bar since that Millennium Party in 1999. Look no further than Mardee Haidin Regan’s The Bartender’s Best Friend: A Complete Guide To Cocktails, Martinis and Mixed… Continue reading The Bartender’s Best Friend by Mardee Haidin Regan

Salad is often looked at as what we eat before a meal, or perhaps as a main course when we’re trying to be healthy. Patricia Wells, a journalist, author and cooking teacher based in France, asks us to reconsider the salad as a viable entree in her new book, Salad as a Meal: Healthy Main-Dish… Continue reading Salad As A Meal – Patricia Wells

Jill Silverman Hough’s 100 Perfect Pairings: Main Dishes To Enjoy With The Wines You Love picks up where her last book left off, expanding from small plates to full entrees. Like the previous effort, her book is divided into chapters for 12 popular grapes (well 11, plus one for Rosé) and recipes that match. There’s… Continue reading 100 Perfect Pairings: Main Dishes To Enjoy With The Wines You Love

Katherine Cole’s new book, Voodoo Vintners: Oregon’s Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers, explores the rise of biodynamic practices in Oregon wineries.

Our friend Monty Waldin has just published his new book, Monty Waldin’s Biodynamic Wine Guide 2011. This is the most comprehensive guide to biodynamic wine ever written. Author Monty Waldin began writing and broadcasting about biodynamic wine back in 1995 when biodynamics was deeply unfashionable and Waldin was seen as a maverick. Now biodynamics has… Continue reading Monty Waldin’s Biodynamic Wine Guide 2011

We were very impressed with Evan Goldstein’s latest offering, Daring Pairings, so we decided to take a look back at his first book. Perfect Pairings focuses on 12 of the most common wine varietals – so you can now find out which foods to match with your Cabernet Sauvignons and Rieslings. With less grapes to focus on, Goldstein is able to go more in depth about the variety of styles each varietal can be found in, and offers different recipes for them.  You’d want to try the Pork Loin Glazed with Pomegranate and Orange with a ripe, fruit-forward Pinot Noir, but Lamb Shish Kebabs go better with a Pinot Noir that is more aged and developed.

You’ve finally learned which dishes go well with a Chardonnay, Riesling or Zinfandel, so where do you go from there? Evan Goldstein is out to raise your food & wine IQ even further with Daring Pairings – A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines with Recipes from His Favorite Chefs. The book presents in-depth profiles of… Continue reading OWJ Book Roundup – Daring Pairings

For centuries, most people saw wine as a way to enjoy a good meal or relax. Sam Ward saw it as a way to influence government. He arrived in Washington D.C. in 1859, with several cases of fine wine, and managed to secretly draw salaries simultaneously from the U.S. State Department and the country of… Continue reading OWJ Book Roundup – King of the Lobby

One of the great advantages of a slow cooker is taking a tough piece of meat and making it mouthwateringly tender. But now that Mario Batali has commanded us to start enjoying “Meatless Mondays” what are carnivores, and vegetarians for that matter, supposed to do with this appliance? Judith Finlayson has the answer with her… Continue reading OWJ Book Roundup – The Vegetarian Slow Cooker