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Reflections of a Wine Merchant | 
 enlarge | Author: Neal I. Rosenthal
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy New: $11.99
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Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 19280
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 1.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0374248567
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.22
EAN: 9780374248567
ASIN: 0374248567
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
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Condition: -- Hardcover, with dust jacket is brand new, with new jacket, corners, edges, surface, spine/binding, and text body. We ship every day!
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Product Description
A leading importer of limited-production wines of character and quality takes us on an intimate tour through family-owned vineyards in France and Italy and reflects upon the last three decades of controversy, hype, and change in the world of wine
In the late 1970s, Neal I. Rosenthal set out to learn everything he could about wine. Today, he is one of the most successful importers of traditionally made wines produced by small family-owned estates in France and Italy. Rosenthal has immersed himself in the culture of Old World wine production, working closely with his growers for two and sometimes three generations. He is one of the leading exponents of the concept of “terroir”—the notion that a particular vineyard site imparts distinct qualities of bouquet, flavor, and color to a wine. In Reflections of a Wine Merchant, Rosenthal brings us into the cellars, vineyards, and homes of these vignerons, and his delightful stories about his encounters, relationships, and explorations—and what he has learned along the way—give us an unequaled perspective on winemaking tradition and what threatens it today.
Rosenthal was featured in the documentary film Mondovino and is one of the more outspoken figures against globalization, homogenization, and the “critic-ization” of the wine business. He was also a major subject in Lawrence Osborne’s The Accidental Connoisseur. His is an important voice in defense of the individual and the artisanal, and their contribution to our quality of life.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Contrasting View June 9, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I don't get the vitriol of the first three reviewers. Concerning their complaints that this book is full of Neal's opinions and rants: yes, it is. If they were looking for nothing but raw facts perhaps they should have selected a book that wasn't autobiographical. As for the quality of the writing: while Neal does tend to be a little over-the-top with his comparisons, his use of the English language is quite good albeit old-fashioned.
Personally, I really enjoyed this book. It's a quick, fun read as long as you take it for what it is: a collection of recollections and musings on wine and personal history by Neal. I found him to be relatively even-handed in his treatment of most subjects and it was refreshing to hear from someone in the world of wine who doesn't worship at the temple of numerical scores.
 Thin and bitter... May 23, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Perhaps this is an exercise in piling on, but it must be said... this book is a tremendous disappointment. Mr. Rosenthal vents his spleen on a variety of topics and people, with little in the way of real insight to offer. The prose is sometimes comically stilted and reads like bad legal writing. Often a single sentence rambles on for a good part of a page, bearing the weight three or four sentences should carry.
His heart is in the right place: wines with character and sense of place, made for keeping. But between the small minded jabs at a pantheon of enemies, the rotten writing and the sheer superficiality of it all... No. Don't bother. Instant bargain bin material.
NY Wine May 19, 2008
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Neil Rosenthal should be ashamed of himself. First of all, his command of the English language is at or near a 6th grade level - no wonder he could not make it as a lawyer. His goal in writing this book was simple: "Everybody pay attention to me!"
Neil wants to be a critic. Not an importer. He should stick to what he knows.
If his mother was, "Ugly, with horselike features and legs as thick as a country table" would he like it if that were how she was memorialized? Probably not.
Spend the $[...]-- on a bottle of his wine not this awful book. Neil, you really have no class. Shame on you.
Thud May 7, 2008
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
If there was ever any doubt about the matter we now know that the skill set needed to discover wines of real character and the one that results in great prose are entirely distinct. Though I was looking forward to this book, from the outset I was sorely disappointed. The author spends much of the first several chapters settling scores with individuals who have disappointed him in the past. Before we join him on his first solo visit to the vineyards of Europe he already sounds embittered. Once we join him on his rounds, we do meet some lovely people for whom Rosenthal has genuine affection--and who seem inordinately cursed by personal tragedy. While the dust jacket promises that 'we will learn how they unveil the subtleties of their individual terroirs,' I don't believe we do. I was expecting something on the exalted level of 'Adventures on the Wine Route,' but this isn't it.
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