Product Description

In the wine capital of the world, a battle royal of tradition against innovation in the quest for ratings and market share.

For wine lovers the world over, Bordeaux is the centre of the universe. But in the past two decades, revolutionaries have stormed its traditional bastions, making their mark - and their fortunes - modernising the production and marketing of wine.

Noble Rot introduces us to the figures who epotomise the changes sweeping Bordeaux: the noble family behind Chateau d'Yquem engaged in a soap-opera feud; a stonemason turned winemaker whose wine, made in a garage, sells for $100 a bottle; the Maryland, USA-based critic Robert Parker, whose opinion routinely makes or breaks a wine; and the New World operations that have used branding to undercut Bordeaux's supremacy. It also delves into the mysteries of the legendary classification of 1855: how it became the bible of Bordeaux and how it was at last successfully challenged.

William Echikson takes readers inside the centre of the French wine business to examine the schism between defenders of the old order and architects of the new.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160420 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Noble Rot excels
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.