Host & Toast Book Club

Saturday, October 26

1:00pm

Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink

From Amazon.com:

"After reading this intriguing book, a glass of wine will be more than hints of blackberries or truffles on the palate. Written by the author of the popular, award-winning website DrVino.com, Wine Politicsexposes a little-known but extremely influential aspect of the wine business—the politics behind it. Tyler Colman systematically explains how politics affects what we can buy, how much it costs, how it tastes, what appears on labels, and more. He offers an insightful comparative view of wine-making in Napa and Bordeaux, tracing the different paths American and French wines take as they travel from vineyard to dining room table. Colman also explores globalization in the wine business and illuminates the role of behind-the-scenes players such as governments, distributors, and prominent critics who wield enormous clout. Throughout, Wine Politics reveals just how deeply politics matters— right down to the taste of the wine in your glass tonight."

September Book Club

The next book club meeting will be held Saturday, September 28, at 1pm.  This month's book:

 

"The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine" by Benjamin Wallace.

From Amazon.com

“Part detective story, part wine history, this is one juicy tale, even for those with no interest in the fruit of the vine. . . . As delicious as a true vintage Lafite.” —BusinessWeek
"The Billionaire’s Vinegar tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries."

What's the book club all about?

The Host & Toast book club is open to anyone wanting to read books about wine and discuss them while drinking wine.  The group meets the 4th Saturday of each month, 1pm, at Host & Toast on 26th & Boston.  And as a bonus, anyone attending the meeting will receive 10% off purchases during the meeting.

Check out this blog for details on monthly book selections.

August Book Club

The next book club meeting will be held August 24th at 1pm.

For August, the group is reading Treachery in Bordeaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noel Balen.

Details can be found here:

http://www.lefrenchbook.com/our-books/crime-fiction/the-winemaker-detective-series/treachery-in-bordeaux/

It costs around $6 on Kindle, and seems to only be available as an e-book.

From Emily:

It's a quick and easy read full of references to wine we may not ever be able to afford in our lifetime.  I have only read about 40% of the book, and so far I am particularly interested in the aging, alcoholic genius character.