A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present [Hardcover]

Charles L. Sullivan (Author), Hugh Johnson (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

California is the nation's great vineyard, supplying grapes for most of the wine produced in the United States. The state is home to more than 700 wineries, and California's premier wines are recognized throughout the world. But until now there has been no comprehensive guide to California wine and winemaking. Charles L. Sullivan's A Companion to California Wine admirably fills that gap--here is the reference work for consumers, wine writers, producers, and scholars.
Sullivan's encyclopedic handbook traces the Golden State's wine industry from its mission period and Gold Rush origins down to last year's planting and vintage statistics. All aspects of wine are included, and wine production from vine propagation to bottling is described in straightforward language. There are entries for some 750 wineries, both historical and contemporary; for more than 100 wine grape varieties, from Aleatico to Zinfandel; and for wine types from claret to vermouth--all given in a historical context.
In the book's foreword the doyen of wine writers, Hugh Johnson, tells of his own forty-year appreciation of California wine and its history. "Charles Sullivan's Companion," he adds, "will provide the grist for debate, speculation, and reminiscence from now on. With admirable dispassion he sets before us just what has happened in the plot so far."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Charles Sullivan's A Companion to California Wine: Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking fills an oenological-reference niche that has up till now been lacking a suitably comprehensive and scholarly effort. An A-to-Z compendium of wine-related entries ranging from Acacia Winery to Zinfandel, the Companion to California Wine covers 750 wineries and more than 100 wine-grape varietals, delivering useful explanations for tourists and wine-tasters, plus well-researched historical context for wine scholars, history students, and the idly curious.

A random flip to page 3 reveals a profile of Leon D. Adams (journalist, historian, cofounder of the Wine Institute, and author of Commonsense Book of Wine), thumbnail sketches of small wineries (Adelaida Cellars near San Luis Obispo, Aetana Springs Wine Ranch in Napa, and Ahlgren Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains); an entry on aging wines that explains the process and details its history in California; a blurb on Aguardiente, the hard liquor commonly consumed during the Gold Rush; plus a introduction to Alameda County and its important wine-growing regions.

A great boon to California oenophiles wishing to bone up on the small winery labels they run across (the entries for which include location, history, annual production, and the varietals they specialize in), Sullivan's encyclopedia is engaging enough for amateur wine buffs and comprehensive enough for serious students of California history, wine history, or both. -- Stephanie Gold

From Booklist

Some of those who settled California were winemakers who imported European varietal grapes to start their vineyards. Today California is among the world's top five wine producers and its top-quality products easily rival those of Europe's fine wineries. Anyone interested in wine history and lore will find A Companion to California Wine to be a useful guide.

Unlike standard consumer and tourist guides, this book's focus is geographical and historical. The alphabetical entries range in length from a few sentences to one page. They include all producers and wineries of historical importance (Gallo, Inglenook), place names (Sonoma County, Stag's Leap), grapes (Cabernet, Chardonnay, Zinfandel), wine types (claret, sparkling wine), technical terms (fermentation, pest control), and organizations (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Wine Institute). Cross-references appear in small capitals. Photographs, maps, and charts augment the text. Entries for counties include maps and charts of the amounts and types of grapes produced each year. Articles on technical processes explain them as they are used in the wine industry. An interesting entry on libraries provides the addresses and telephone numbers of California academic and special libraries with important wine collections. A bibliography, list of oral histories, list of sources for used wine books, and an index complete the book.

Although patrons concerned with evaluating and purchasing wines for consumption or collection will be better served with standard resources such as The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia [RBB D 1 97] or Steven Koplan's Exploring Wine (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996), those interested in the colorful history of California's wine industry will find an excellent introduction here. Recommended for academic, special, and public libraries serving patrons interested in California history and/or wine.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520213513
• ISBN-13: 978-0520213517
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New California Wine Companion destined to become a standard, October 3, 1998

By 

Bo Simons ([e-mail]) (Healdsburg, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present (Hardcover)

I am the librarian at the Sonoma County Wine Library, and I have known Charles Sullivan for some years. His newest work will probably be THE one volume reference on California wine from now on. In concise and informative entries, Sullivan encompasses the whole of California's rich wine heritage. He covers all the varietals and most of the wineries A to Z. His writing is insightful, dispassionate and fluid, and his research is superb.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential reference to California wine, April 14, 2008

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present (Hardcover)

The importance of Bo Simmond's praise for this book on Amazon can not be exaggerated; there is no better library of wine books in the United States. Sullivan himself has studied wine and its history in California for over 30 years. He has a clear and concise style, and his text is well documented and reliable.

Sullivan has contributed his California wine history database to winefiles.org. It contains over 30,000 citations to primary sources in California's wine history, including books, newspapers, trade journals and other periodicals.

In addition to "A Companion to California Wine', Sullivan is the author of:

"Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present";

"WINES AND WINEMAKERS OF THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS" (Los Gatos: D. R. Bennion Trust, 1992);

"Like Modern Edens: Winegrowing in Santa Clara Valley and Santa Cruz Mountains 1798-1981"; and

"Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine" (California Studies in Food and Culture, 10).

Sullivan continues to write about California wine, and has written over a hundred articles on the subject, which have been published in leading wine periodicals. "A Companion" is a great place to explore his work and California wine history in general.

Robert C. Ross 2008

5.0 out of 5 stars Great bopok on wine, recomended, September 20, 2011

By 

Macondray J. Steiger (Forestville, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking from the Mission Period to the Present (Hardcover)

A friend told me about this book, published by the University of California. Very good resource and a recommended read if you're into wine. Nicely published.