Customer Reviews

Essential Wines and Wineries of the Pacific Northwest: A Guide to the Wine Countries of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Idaho

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was an excellent overview of the many regions of wine growing in the Northwest. I enjoyed the geographical history of each area which outlines the `terroir' of the regions and helped explain why each area produces quite unique grapes.

As a beginning wine enthusiast, it is a well written book which I read prior to visiting Woodenville, WA and it help me focus on the regions and winemakers I found interesting from the book.

Also purchased Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide which was also very well done. The new edition was not available before I traveled to WA. Much greater detail, nice to have both.

Just received this book as a gift and it's so lovely! My husband and I are planning a winery tour for next spring and really appreciated learning about some of the fine vineyards we were unaware of. Highly recommended.

Really wanted to like this book but it's fluff, all of it, and feels written to a very rudimentary crowd. There is nothing in this book that you couldn't get from a quick google search on any of these wineries. The only plus is that the wineries are all listed under the cover, but even that falls short as there are so many omissions here that they are too numerous to list (and these omissions are some of the highest quality producers). I wasn't even looking for obscure wineries, just some I knew, and 7 out of 10 I looked in the index for are not in this book. Bad batting average. The author tries to make up for it with his copious amounts of photographs. But really, how many photographs of grape vines does one need to look at? Apparently on all 291 pages. Because there pretty much isn't a single page of this book that you open and do not see photos of either grape vines or grapes. It's unnerving. And these are not small photos, they take up over 1/2 to a full page. This book could have been written as a helper or primer for someone with really only a passing interest in the subject (but this book is a waste of money for anyone with any kind of real knowledge about the Pacific Northwest wine culture) for 1/2 the cost and with 1/2 the printing paper. Really, this is like a blurb book. It gives no more than a paragraph, sometimes two, to any winery (which really gives you nothing useful). It's fluff, all of it. I mean, it doesn't even include a comprehensive AVA list of the areas in which it's suppose to be providing you with 'essential' information. I'd skip this book, unless you're looking for something pretty for your coffee table to gather dust.