Vino Business (ePub)

“Gossip as poisonous as pesticides, anonymous informants, rampant greed . . . the latest primetime TV drama? No, it’s just St.-Émilion. . . . A new book, Vino Business, by French journalist Isabelle Saporta, has caused a firestorm for its criticism of the French wine trade. . . . If it’s causing this much uproar, thinks Lucile Carle, whose family owns St.-Émilion Château Croque-Michotte, ‘it’s because she put her finger on the sore spot.’” —Wine Spectator
 
“Saporta doesn’t pull any punches, portraying an industry rife with enormous egos and long histories of trying to become even more profitable, tradition be damned . . . Saporta is not afraid to name names and highlight the ramifications of a few elites’ backroom machinations on smaller producers, as well as on France’s beloved wine industry as a whole. Saporta’s precision in identifying her targets and laying out supporting evidence adds drama to an already-melodramatic saga, and teetotalers and oenophiles alike will find it hard to resist.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Vivid insights emerge into the hard, cold business practices of speculative investors jealously guarding wine ‘brands’ . . . Saporta incisively and unflinchingly documents fundamental transformations away from small, family estates . . . Colorful stories of greed, self-dealing and corruption, as well as instances of valiant resistance.” —Dave DeSimone, Pittsburgh Tribune Review
 
“Is Premier Cru wine all just a con? Car parks and bribes influence the classification of wines in the Bordeaux region of southwest France according to [this] new book.” —Daily Mail (UK)