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Review
"A consequential book, rich in ideas and powerful in feeling."--New York Times
"I read it almost in one gulp: he writes beautifully, uninhibitedly... almost, one might say, drunkenly... a man after my own heart."---Hugh Johnson
"Wise and funny, committed and sincere, but never dogmatic. . . .A passionate defense of the importance of wine."--The World of Fine Wine
"Theise first demystifies how to experience wine, then remystifies it by reinstating pleasure as what it's all about." STARRED REVIEW--Library Journal
"It's not even wine that Theise is really tackling. It's aesthetics. As such he skillfully reminds us of wine's timeless place in culture."--Sf Chronicle
"I read it almost in one gulp: he writes beautifully, uninhibitedly... almost, one might say, drunkenly... a man after my own heart."---Hugh Johnson
"Wise and funny, committed and sincere, but never dogmatic. . . .A passionate defense of the importance of wine."--The World of Fine Wine
"Theise first demystifies how to experience wine, then remystifies it by reinstating pleasure as what it's all about." STARRED REVIEW--Library Journal
"It's not even wine that Theise is really tackling. It's aesthetics. As such he skillfully reminds us of wine's timeless place in culture."--Sf Chronicle
Product Description
Acclaimed importer and wine guru Terry Theise, long known for his top-notch portfolio and his illustrious writing, now offers this opinionated, idiosyncratic, and beautifully written testament to wine. What constitutes beauty in wine, and how do we appreciate it? What role does wine play in a soulful, sensual life? Can wines of place survive in a world of globalized styles and 100-point scoring systems? In his highly approachable style, Theise describes how wine can be a portal to aesthetic, emotional, even mystical experience--and he frankly asserts that these experiences are most likely to be inspired by wines from artisan producers. Along the way, Theise tells us a little about how he got where he is today, explores the meaning of wine in the lives of vintners he has known, and praises particular grape varieties. Reading between the Wines is a passionate tribute to wine--and to what it can say to us once we learn to listen.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wine and Philosophy,
This review is from: Reading between the Wines (Hardcover)
M. Theise did not only wrote a book on the wine but something that captured the invisible aspects of the subject. He described very sensitively the Spirit and the Essence of the wine with a lot of finesse and how those aspects can reveal to us the Beauty of the world. This poetic essay corresponds closely to my personal experience and my own beleivings and I warmly recommend it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Provocative and opinionated - you must read,
By W. John Switzer (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Reading between the Wines (Hardcover)
Terry Theise may be the best wine writer you have never heard of. Terry is a buyer for the east coast importer, Michael Skurnik Wines. To label Theise as a buyer is an understatement. He is likely the most highly-specialized expert in small maker wines in the world. His specialty is the zany categories of Germany, Austria and Champagne (zany is his term).Where does writing enter the equation? Terry writes extensive catalogues each year, catalogues that provide an expert overview of each region and its wines along with detailed profiles of the wineries and tasting notes on the wines he is selling to the trade clients of Michael Skurnik Wines. These catalogues are something I look forward to each year, not only for the content but also for the entertaining, provocative and informative way Theise turns each phrase. Suffice it to say, Theise is one of my wine heroes. The book under review has just been published and is a stand-back-from-the-details-of-selling tome that describes in poetic terms the Theise view of what makes great wine great. Theise is highly-principled and does not hesitate to publish his principles and then proceed to stand by them. He likes artisanal wines for their distinct character of place. He likes wines made by small producers because these people don't touch their wines in ways that get in the way of expressions of terroir. He likes these wines because they are humble and not susceptible to fashion. This description makes Theise sound like a wine-world equivalent of a Luddite. Terry is far from a Luddite. He seeks wines that adhere to a charter of values which embodies wines which display flavour aspects of: clarity, distinctiveness, grace, balance, deliciousness, complexity, modesty, persistence and paradox. Most of these terms need no definition: they represent the things every experienced taster seeks when assessing a wine. In opposition to the flavour elements Theise seeks are those that matter least in his manifesto: power, sweetness, ripeness and concentration. Given these preferences it is not a surprise that Theise specializes in wines from out-of-fashion regions like Germany and Austria. This said, I think Theise may be lurking in the background as an important influence on the re-emergence of interest in the delicate, low-alcohol food-friendly whites from these Old World regions. He reflects also an emerging evolution in the global palate: witness the struggles low-priced Australian wines have been experiencing recently (wines of power, sweetness, ripeness and concentration). This book can read slowly in places as Theise waxes philosophically but I recommend you skim these sections as he moves on with effective use of example and metaphor to demonstrate his philosophy in more easily-accepted fashion. Theise is a very good writer with an exceptional sense of humour. This book is great fun notwithstanding a slow spot or two. Not everyone will agree with Theise and it is evident he doesn't care. He is impassioned about the wine styles he seeks, as much for the stories of the people who make those wines as for the wines themselves. From my experience the appreciation of a wine is so firmly grounded in the maker that you can't separate good wine from who made it and where they made it. Perhaps this is why I think Reading Between the Wines is an important book. It articulates in an updated form the same story Kermit Lynch (another of my wine heroes) was telling in Adventures on the Wine Route). These are the stories of the makers of the great wines of the world. Lynch is a Francophile but the stories of craft makers are similar as you move north into Germany and Austria. I encourage all wine lovers to check out Reading Between the Wines. If you want to road-test Terry Theise first you should go to [...] to learn more about him, read some of his catalogues and decide whether you wish to sign up for his manifesto. Theise also writes articles for The World of Fine Wine.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Full of insights, but occasionally over the top,
By Chambolle - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Reading between the Wines (Hardcover)
Here we have yet another in a growing library of recent books that delve into the heart and soul of wine and ask the Big Questions. Why does wine matter? Why does terroir matter? Who gives a damn about "scoring" wine? Are there universal and absolute measures of "quality," or is a simple and honest bottle of cool, crisp rose, slurped with good ham, ripe melon and a fresh baguette on a hot summer day as "great" in its own way as a bottle of 1990 La Tache, sipped reverently on a grand occasion? Is Robert Parker The Devil, or just a guy with his own quirky palate who has been misunderstood and misused by armies of newbies hungry for easy answers to the questions "what wine should I buy" and "what wine am I supposed to like"?Terry Theise has got his chops down, no doubt about it. He sure as heck knows German and Austrian wines better than any human I know -- to the extent that his focus on these wines makes portions of this book a bit of a tough sled for a dyed in the wool Burgundy addict like me, and probably for other folks who aren't devoted accolytes of Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, Scheurebe and the like. It would be easier for me to connect with the book were it more focused on the wines, the growers and the land that I do know pretty well, which ain't Germany and Austria. As others have said here, this is a heartfelt and insightful little book, full of wisdom and witticisms about the making and enjoyment of wine -- wine as an integral part of life and culture, not as an academic exercise, or a competition among Screaming Eagle swilling hedge fund managers who buy and drink by the Parker bible. For all that, Theise is not a Parker basher, like some others. This book attempts to put both ends of the spectrum -- the terroiristes and the Wine Advocates and everyone in-between -- in a healthy perspective. There are turns of phrase and random observations that made me laugh out loud, or stop and think for a long, long time. Flashes of recognition abound. So why not an unqualified five stars? Well, at times Theise wanders off into flights of psychobabble that are just a tad too much. At other times its just a bit too clever and too cute. Despite these quibbles and misgivings -- and they are purely my own and may not be there for others -- I strongly recommend that anyone who cares about wine and who spends a good bit of time drinking and pondering it should buy the book and read it with a glass in hand. Short and to the point, it will get your juices flowing and make you think about the fermented grape juice to which quite a few of us devote quite a bit of our time and energy. 19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A necessity on a wine lover's shelves,
By Katie Pizzuto - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Reading between the Wines (Hardcover)
Any man who quotes Anaïs Nin in a book about wine automatically gets bonus Gonzo points from me, and if in same said book he's got wordplay with Blue Öyster Cult lyrics, well I develop a crush that tends to sway me to overlook the fact that I needed to keep a dictionary handy while reading his book, because I've simply never had cause to use words like ecumenical or pusillanimous. Terry Theise, iconic importer and rock star wannabe, will be the first to tell you that "there's a lot of lousy prose and shallow thinking out there" in the world of wine writing, but his is as far removed from that sad description as wine writing can possibly get, and I'm thankful for it.My bookshelves are burdened down with tomes about wine. They're bowed with the weight of books given biblical status for their wealth of information and books that serve as little more than romantic memoirs about wine-soaked lives. But there are very few--in fact only one other I can think of besides this, Nossiter's "Liquid Memory"--that exist as visceral dissertations on what wine does...move us. Theise's new book speaks of wine having the capability of being a portal to the mystic, and his conviction to this end is utterly seductive. There were points when I found myself reading his proselytizing out on my deck well past twilight, sometimes laughing out loud, sometimes nodding in passionate agreement, and other times lost in his candor. It's no small coincidence that Terry describes taking wine-tasting notes as often being obtrusive when you are engaged in what you've just experienced, because I felt the same about trying to take notes while reading this book--"it's like ignoring a rainbow so you can balance your checkbook." Theise's argument for terroir is impeccable, and one that I imagine would convince even the most hardened New Worlders to bend with the breeze, if only because his argument is sound...logical...clear. He manages to straddle the murky fault line between spirit and substance--between ethos, pathos and logos--and he manages to do it while jibing you about Chateau Bluebols at the same time. I imagine Terry to be the kind of guy that makes you feel like a complete idiot for being lulled into complacency by the gears of the wine industry, and then consoles you as you lick your wounds by offering you a glass of the most delicate, mind-blowing riesling you've ever let pass your lips. For the limited amount of time we have in our lives to imbibe, it begs the question, why drink what doesn't move you? Why drink the enological equivalent of white noise? His rhetoric is both compelling and convincing. I have but one gripe with Reading Between the Wines and that is its forced linearity for a style of writing that is otherwise so intrinsically organic. It's like taking an e.e. cummings poem, dissecting it and cramming that dissection into an eighth-grade lit class outline. At times, Terry's views were broken down into a sort of laundry list, and that sacrificed some of the book's "naturalness" in my opinion, but that's probably also partly me being a pain in the ass after one too many glasses of nowhere wine. In all honesty, when I read his description of a red Burgundy, "If truffles had orgasms, they might emit this fragrance" I'm nearly certain my schoolgirl crush kicked in, and I probably just started looking for any reason to find flaw with Theise so that the spell would be broken. "Reading Between the Wines" is easily the most passionate, poetic, and necessary book on wine I've ever read, and it ended all way too soon. 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best Wine Books in the Last Decade,
By J. Lefevere "Wine Blogger / Technology Sales ... - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Reading between the Wines (Hardcover)
Joining Lawrence Osbourne's The Accidental Connoisseur and Matt Kramer's Making Sense of Wine on the thoughtful wine enthusiasts bookshelf, Theise has written a book that is so wholly singular to his point of view, yet so persuasive that he may yet convert thousands to the wonders of small, artisanal wines from around the world, joining the insider cadre that have followed his German, Austrian and grower Champagne import selections and annual catalog-cum-stream of consciousness manifesto.To be sure, Theise isn't the first to espouse a conviction about the value of Old World wines that are authentic, terroir-based and in possession of a bent toward the transcendental, he's just the first in the last decade to write with enough clarity and generosity of spirit to potentially turn New World agnostics into Old World disciples, connecting with a new generation of wine enthusiasts for whom the lifestyle mavens and old media dogs are as relatable as a narc at a biker rally. While reading the slim volume, losing myself in the theatre of my mind, I imagine Theise sitting across the table from me in the dining room of an old row house in a hardscrabble town, maybe Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Upstate NY, somewhere suitably unfashionable, explaining to me his philosophy on wine -- and by proxy -- life. The education is just getting started when Theise says, at the end of the introduction, just pages into the book, "Confected wines are not designed for human beings; they are designed for `consumers.' Which do you want to be?" At this point, he has removed my defenses, punched me in the gut and put his arm around me whispering reassuringly that I am not that big of a jerk, there is still time to see the light; there is hope. What follows in Reading between the Wines is as thoughtful of a rumination on small wine and the beauty of being human, in all of our fragility, that you are ever likely to find in a wine book. Making Sense Of Wine |
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