Customer Reviews

Noble Rot: A Bordeaux Wine Revolution

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Noble Rot offers an interesting and in-depth look at key developments in Bordeaux over the last decade or so, a time that has probably seen more upheaval than any since the horrendous scandals of the early 1970's. In many ways, the birth of the garage movement in parallel with the apotheosis of Robert Parker, two phenomena made for each other, set off a revolution that will reverberate for decades to come, even if Steven Spurrier and other learned interlocutors have already proclaimed the whole garagiste thing a fad on the way out.

The book's narrative spins several threads together to tell its story. The primary focus, hence the book's title, is on the history of Chateau d'Yquem, the most famous sweet wine in the world, whose grapes owe their insane concentration to a mold that "ennobles" them while they rot. The other major storylines are a primer on the influence of Robert Parker, a history of the garage movement including the rise of Parker's partner in crime, Michel Rolland, and a profile of a leading Entre-de-Mers co-op and its peasant-farmer president. Along the way are sprinkled a variety of entertaining digressions and insights into the workings of other significant Bordeaux properties producing both red and sweet wines, as well as portraits of some key figures like Jeffrey Davies (hitherto unknown to me) who played a key if somewhat quiet role in the emergence of the garage movement.

The deepest treatment is naturally enough reserved for d'Yquem itself, and here the author retells the entire history of the property since the 18th century, not only the more recent events. Others may well disagree, but I found this tale of seemingly endless family feuds, intrigues and falling outs to be fatiguing over time. Too much "Dynasty" or is it Knott's Landing (?) and not enough d'Yquem might be one way of saying it, and it began to dull my palate long before I got to the end. Other sections have more energy and move at a faster clip.

Having recently read Elin McCoy's book, The Emperor of Wine, about the rise of Robert Parker, I was struck by the concision achieved here in Noble Wine. The author manages to hit all the high and low points of Parker's career (focused of course on Bordeaux) without all the useless filler in the other book. It's a great and balanced summary of his contributions and shortcomings.

I've read other books and articles about garage wines over the years, but I must confess that Noble Rot helped solidify for me the points made by other writers like the estimable Andrew Jefford (see his interview with Jean Luc Thunevin on page 169 of his masterpiece The New France). How can it ever be a bad thing to meticulously pick ripe fruit by hand, discard rotten or unripe grapes, and make sure that only the finest representations of the vineyard and vintage make it into the final product? Noble Rot drives this point home effectively and also does a nice job of helping consumers understand some of the freakonomics that result in Bordeaux prices.

One downside of Noble Wine is the overall impression I got of both the writing and organization. The narrative jumps around all over the place, both from chapter-to-chapter but also occasionally on the same page. I found myself getting lost from time to time unable to follow from one paragraph to the next (maybe my brain is subject to Noble Rot). Interestingly, it wasn't until I finished the book that I happened to look up the author's biography only to find he is a Wall Street Journal reporter. I had to wonder at that point if this book wasn't somehow stitched together from dispatches or essays rather than written holistically. I don't know if that's the case, but it's easier to blame the author than admit I have Alzheimer's.

Overall I found this book to be well researched and revealing, with careful attention to the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of what is arguably the world's most important and influential wine region. Some of the other reviewers have referred to its gossipy qualities, and it's true there are a lot of reported conversations that it's hard to believe the author actually witnessed. Nevertheless, I think the book is well worth the effort even if the writing can be a little hard to swallow in places.

Echikson is one of these writers who feels that if he was there, whatever he saw must be described as if it were the most important part of the story. And if he wasn't there, he'll make it appear as if he was. He applied the same technique to Bernard Loiseau's quest for a third Michelin star in "Burgundy Stars," a book about gastronomy that failed to show how anything was actually cooked or what it actually tasted like.

In this volume, he muddles two good stories. First is the family upheaval surrounding the sale of Chateau d'Yquem. Second is an attempt to pin down changes in winemaking style influenced by wine journalist Robert Parker. The former is a classic drama; the latter a Wall Street Journal feature. The timeframe of these two tales overlap, and Echikson intercuts the narratives to give some vague sense that they're somehow related. No way.

Worse, it's clear, time and again, that Echikson hasn't got a clue how wine is actually made, so he relies on gossip about the winemakers. A very frustrating book. Thin, bitter, stylistically simplistic. Ptui.

William Echikson gives us a very accessible look at the Bordeaux wine industry and how it has changed in recent years. The "noble rot" of the title refers to the fungus which aids in winemaking, but it also refers to the collapse of the traditional, often aristocratic men who once dominated the trade.

We are shown the traditional growers, the "garagistes" or new small growers who have revolutionized the trade, the merchants, the brokers, the consultants--and perhaps most important of all, the reviewers, led by the highly influential Robert Parker, whose reviews can make or break a wine.

Among those who are discussed at length are Michel Gracia, stonemaker and garagiste, whose wine at its peak sold for over $100 a bottle, and the family Lur-Saluces, owners and producers of the famous Yquem, whose family infighting and arrogance leads to foreign takeover. They are fascinating stories, spread out through the book inbetween looks at co-ops who produce vast quantities of less stellar wine, and explanations of the hidebound 1855 classification system that, pre-Parker, once dominated Bordeaux.

A worthwhile read from someone who clearly knows his field and loves it. Highly recommended.

William Echikson has written a solid account of recent events in what is France's most important wine region, Bordeaux, but it's not a book for a general audience. Most non-wine lovers just aren't going to care about some of the wine-making minutia he gets into, nor will his profiles of the personalities be very compelling. But for wine lovers, the book offers a very thorough look at Bordeaux's recent triumphs and travails -- and the people who are making that happen.

As virtually all wine lovers know, Bordeaux has been roiled by various controversies in recent years, the emergence of upstart "garagiste" winemakers, the hotly-disputed powers of Robert Parker, the world's most influential wine critic, and the changes in ownership in many of the leading chateaus and estates.

Another controversy has been the recent spike in prices. Echikson does a very good job of explaining how the Bordeaux market works, including the roles played by merchants and brokers in the process. And using the 2001 vintage, he shows how the system worked to help establish prices for what was a decent, but hardly outstanding year.

But the real dish in Echikson's book is his look at some of the larger-than-life personalities in Bordeaux, including Michel Rolland, the oenologist to the stars, Robert Parker, Count Alexandre Lur-Saluces, and some of the leading garagiste winemakers. For people who know and care about fine wine, Echikson's book contains detailed profiles of these major players, and while some of the information in his book is not new, it is surely the best overall source of information about the people who are important in Bordeaux today. Echikson pays particular attention to the long-running battle for control of Chateau Yquem, the world's foremost producer of Sauternes, which underwent a bitter battle for control of the family-owned business, and which ended with global luxury goods maker LVMH owning a majority stake.

Echikson is also very good at describing the squeeze that's on in Bordeaux as its products must increasingly compete with New World wines that are often every bit as good as -- and sometimes better -- than the grand old names. Nobody needs to weep for the grand cru growers; in decent years they make adequate money, and in great years, like 2000, they coin it. But one of the most interesting parts of Echikson's book is his analysis of the bulk wines made in Bordeaux, and how the production of solid, drinkable wines around the world is affecting the ability of the Bordelais to sell lesser product. What Echikson's book shows is that globalization has seriously impacted the wine business. The bulk co-op wine producers face the same hard choice as so many other industries: improve your product or risk the failure of your business.

All in all, an interesting and brisk read for people interested in the wine industry.

In addition to the 'deification' of Robert Parker, noted by another reviewer, the book shows a surprising level of ugly American. Given the author's history, I had expected better. When I reached the bit where the author tsked 'those bad frenchies' who 'forgot we saved their bacon in WWII', I gave up. The subject matter the author follows could have made a good book, but in the end did not.

This is an inspiring book. It is eminently readable - and presents wines in such a way that you can almost taste them in your mouth.

"Noble Rot" covers the dynamic changes occurring in the most famous wine region of the world - Bordeaux. It describes the frictions - sometimes pleasant, sometimes much less so - between Right Bank and Left Bank producers, between the old and the new ... and in my own personal opinion from tasting, between the historically good and contemporary outstanding.

Here you will find insights into the world of wine making, the history of Bordeaux, family relationships and corporate takeovers, and on almost every page the sheer enjoyment of a glass of wine.

The storyline keeps you hooked; the information would not overwhelm a novice, but has sufficient detail for the connoisseur; a smallest criticism would be that it would help at some stage to have some charts and maps showing who people are, the wines they make, and where their chateaux are. No doubt this is something for the second edition, of which there is sure to be one.

For a book which will keep you entranced, and cause you to salivate at the wine (and even the descriptions of French food) - I have read none better.

This book is more about the people involved in the wine industry in France. It was quite interesting the way old wine families squabbled over their inherited estates...and more interesting is about the garagiste wine makers. If you hope to read more about wine, then this book is not for you....

This is an inspiring book. It is eminently readable - and presents wines in such a way that you can almost taste them in your mouth.

"Noble Rot" covers the dynamic changes occurring in the most famous wine region of the world - Bordeaux. It describes the frictions - sometimes pleasant, sometimes much less so - between Right Bank and Left Bank producers, between the old and the new ... and in my own personal opinion from tasting, between the historically good and contemporary outstanding.

Here you will find insights into the world of wine making, the history of Bordeaux, family relationships and corporate takeovers, and on almost every page the sheer enjoyment of a glass of wine.

The storyline keeps you hooked; the information would not overwhelm a novice, but has sufficient detail for the connoisseur; a smallest criticism would be that it would help at some stage to have some charts and maps showing who people are, the wines they make, and where their chateaux are. No doubt this is something for the second edition, of which there is sure to be one.

For a book which will keep you entranced, and cause you to salivate at the wine (and even the descriptions of French food) - I have read none better.

Speaking as a California wine maker from a region ignored by Robert Parker (the Sierra foothills) I found the deification of Mssr. Parker somewhat tedious. There were also some editing or reporting inconsistencies that made me wonder about other assertions made in the book. On page 37 Parker is said to get a good 10 hours sleep a night yet his assistant Pierre-Antoine Rovani claims he works 18 hours a day. Perhaps I am quibbling, but details such as these make me wonder if there are other errors I am not noticing.

As to the non-Parker portions of the book; the stories were entertaining, gossipy and trashy. In other words thouroughly enjoyable.

Revolving and rotating around the issues and people surrounding the great wine producing area of Bordeaux, Echikson's Noble Rot creates a non-linear history seemingly centered on the great Chateau d'Yquem and the vintages clustered around the year 2000. There is a smattering of pre 19th century history throughout the book - but likely because of the book's jumbled narrative, fails to give the reader an adequate idea of why certain peoples and ideas were truly shocking to the region.

Similar to the wine movie Mondovino (Directed by Johnathan Nossiter), Echikson introduces us to characters in the wine making world, in this case Bordeaux, who drive the narrative forward. However, perhaps because of the people he chooses, or simply because of his own bias, Echikson is quick to villify producers who are critical of the 'wine revolution' and lionize those who are decidely pro-american and what winos would call 'modern' winemakers. The bias turns up over and over again, and I was nauseated by his unabashed vindications.

Patriotic, or perhaps taste preferences aside, the book was highly engaging despite the flaws, telling the story of Bordeaux's recent history through a mixture of gossip, biography, and pure academic research. Easy to read by wine-lovers and historians alike, the book's 280 some pages was a perfect, satiating length.