Vintage France: Adventures Along the French Wine Route [Paperback]

James Tanner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2002

It is heartwarming for an American expatriate who has lived in France for over thirty years to read a book which absolutely shines with love and appreciation for France. Tanner has discovered the most elusive yet lasting pleasure: a second home in a "foreign land".There are gentle tidbits of history in his story. He stands in a thousand year old cathedral and reflects on kings and bullet holes. He had an eye for landscape; his first sight of the famous hill of Corton Charlemagne moves him deeply. He has a diarist's sense of detail especially when describing the sumptuous meals he shares with his wife and friends in France's gastronomic and viticultural capitals.The major part of Vintage France occurs in Burgundy, an aristocratic yet fundamentally rural region that produces many of the world's best wines. It is here that Tanner hangs up his hat and becomes close to several families. He harvests grapes, visits vineyards and cellars, and weaves himself into the daily life of Frenchmen and Frenchwomen who have fully adopted this gregarious stranger.Required reading not only for first time visitors to France, but for all those who are gentle adventurers.-Becky Wasserman Hone

Editorial Reviews

Review

An excellent reading tour of the . . . wine culture of this . . . inviting nation. -- Midwest Book Review, June 2003

Great armchair book for franco- and oenophiles. -- Armchair France, May 2003

Tanner . . . lovingly details his days spent in sun-drenched vineyards harvesting grapes. -- France Today, April 2003

Vintage France . . . is an extended bread-and-butter note, or perhaps one should say, wine-and cheese note, to the country’s vintners. -- Minnesota Lawyer Magazine, November 18, 2002

[A] candor . . . that draws you into the poorly marked rural roads of the French countryside and smoky Burgundian cafes. -- Minneapolis Star Trib, November 2002

[N]e s’arrête pas àla gastronomie cependant, et en véritable écrivain-voyageur il narre son émerveillement face aux paysages et à l’architecture. -- Journal Francais, Decmber, 2002

From the Publisher

Vintage France New Hit!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595233945
• ISBN-13: 978-0595233946
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,865,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage France, September 29, 2002

By 

"laurel_" (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vintage France: Adventures Along the French Wine Route (Paperback)

In the world of armchair travel it's always good to find new adventures beckoning. Vintage France is one of those, the account of a couple's love for France and especially for its wine culture and their exploration and growing knowledge of it. Tanner recounts the story of two visits to France, both focused on wine-growing regions, tasting and buying wines for pleasure and expanding the considerable knowledge of viticulture that he and his wife had already developed. They began in Reims and visited the cathedral there before beginning their wine-tasting. I've visited that cathedral, also as our first venture off the plane, and greatly appreciated Tanner's observations on what the ancient, deeply historic, now battered church expresses about France's history. They moved on to Epernay to begin the serious business of wine tasting, then on to Alsace for the night and the next day on toward their main goal, Burgundy where they would come to know both new wines and new friends. A surprising number of the people they met there were to become their close friends, from the guide who led their tour to the Cote de Nuits to many of the vineyard owners and workers and their families. Upon their return to France for another vacation, the Tanners reunited with the friends they'd made on their first trip and were honored to receive an invitation to a very formal dinner with the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin where they experienced amazing wines and foods including L'Escargot en Glace.
I learned about wines from this book, more about Corton, so hallowed a name that proximity to the site struck the author dumb, as well as much about others completely new to me. Jim and Liz Tanner spent time participating in harvesting the grapes as well as witnessing every other step in the process and certainly enjoying the fruition of it. Jim described incredible French cuisine, and through and around all this came the reality of France, the landscapes, castles, cathedrals, other monuments and natural beauties, the warmth of its people and the great pleasure of traveling there and experiencing L'Hexagon in person.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appreciation, January 25, 2003

By 

Glenn W. Martin (St. Anthony, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vintage France: Adventures Along the French Wine Route (Paperback)

I don't know much about wine, but I know what I like when my wife and I add this to a fine dinner. And I don't know much about France and have never been there. But Jim Tanner makes both come alive in his vivid discriptions of the country and its people and the fine art of wine-making. There is also a taste of history, the fine arts, religion, and the joys of traveling in and to unknown places. He is an excellent writer, who paints word pictures with witt and charm. He should be hired by the Tourist Bureau of France.
By the time one puts this book down one wants to go there to see for oneself if all he says is true. And, if your wine supply is low, a trip to the wineshop is in order.
Glenn Martin

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some thoughts, October 21, 2002

By 

Vigilant Author "murisaltien21" (France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vintage France: Adventures Along the French Wine Route (Paperback)

I met Jim Tanner several months before his book was published. He impressed me as an interesting person who seemed to have found a good balance in his life. Jim was friendly and gracious. No big ego or unrealistic expectations about life would hamper his ability to spot an opportunity. He mentioned rather casually that he had an experience traveling in Europe that transformed his life. Being full of very fond memories of my own recent trips to France and Italy, I asked him to, "say more." As he spoke, my jaw figuratively fell open and I was spell bound as he reminisced about several encounters in France. When I told him he ought to write a book, he admitted that he was finishing one at the urging of other friends.

None too soon I learned Jim's book was finished and available. I teasingly told him I'd buy a copy and wanted him to autograph it. A few days after the book arrived I thought I'd just glance through it. Frankly, I thought it couldn't possibly be as good as Frances Mayes' wonderful books on her Tuscany experiences, but Jim's quiet elegance I found to be superior. The book is lovely, gentle and beguiling. I eagerly recommend it to seasoned travelers, wine and food connoisseurs, or story lovers. But, even if you have never traveled far from home, don't know your Merlot from Budweiser, or only find your entertainment on a big screen, this book will offer very pleasant reading. I was transfixed.

This time, reading about his journey, it was my mind that fell open. I was opened to the wonderful images he put before me. Images of people, places, and relationships and feelings all were drawn in a way for even an experienced traveler to enjoy. The book tells a story about a life transforming experience. It starts with learning that a stranger has finally experienced something many people have experienced over the years. Aha, Jim made it to France! But, as you read more about Jim and Liz, you come to realize that he has shared this part of his life's journey with you. You witness the process. Jim learned something I did not and could not have known before. He found his France and willingly offered it to me. The sharing of the trip was complete; not just the places and events, but the heart of this unassuming man was offered to his new French friends, and to me. Through his trip abroad he found his home, and shared that process in this little book. It enabled me, years later, to appreciate my own journey to France in a new way. That is a gift for which I am grateful.

Betsy Marvin, JD
October 21, 2002