The Wines of California

As the fourth largest producer of wine in the world, California could easily be written about in multiple regional installments, but here California wine expert Elaine Chukan Brown presents serious readers and students of wine with a single concise, complete, smartly delivered and cohesive book on the subject. The book is divided into three major sections. The first presents the key ideas that help make sense of California wine as a whole, including the history of California wine in brief, how the topography delivers California’s overarching climatic and soil conditions, and the basics of vineyard and winery factors relevant to the state. The large middle section of the book examines each of the California wine regions in turn. The focus through this regional section is on the growing conditions within the particular region, varietal trends, how location has factored into each region’s historical development, and how to differentiate the recognised American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) within the region. Key facts are summarised in easy-reference boxes within the text. Significant producers who have had an influence on the development of the region are discussed and highlighted in the body of the text as well as featuring in a quick-reference box at the end of each chapter. In the third major section Chukan Brown takes an analytical look at the industry now and by looking at key themes that have emerged in the industry examines what the future may hold for Californian wines.