On California
By Karen MacNeil

California is the largest wine region in the world, as well as one of its most-regarded - this book tells its storyArticles and extracts from some of the most loved wine writers of yesterday and todayAn essential wine book for every wine lover and wine studentBeautifully designed and illustrated to bring the region to life on the pageOn California explores the grapes and the people who have made California wine great. The pioneers, the boffins, the whizz-kids and scientists, many of whom tell their stories on its pages – some in precious archive material, others have set down their thoughts mid-pandemic in 2021: Randall Grahm, Gerald Asher, Steven Spurrier, Paul Draper and Warren Winiarski take a bow...Includes:California wine and the future: where will the ‘California spirit’ lead next?The ‘Hollywood Grape’: our authors chart the path of Cabernet Sauvignon, from the wish-list of Thomas Jefferson to the hallowed hillsides of Stag’s Leap and Screaming Eagle1976? Of course it was a competition! Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher look back at the motivations behind the famous Paris wine tastingTop New York sommelier Victoria James tells of her near-death introduction to the whacky world of winemaking in SonomaWill the real Zinfandel please stand up? Paul Draper seeks out the true heritage of California’s versatile orphan grapeContributions from top California writers: Elaine Chukan Brown, Mary Margaret McCamic MW, Karen MacNeil, Esther Mobley, Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Liz Thach MW, Clare Tooley MW, and Kelli WhiteHugh Johnson, Jane Anson and Fiona Morrison MW introduce California’s intrepid wine pioneersRex Pickett’s Sideways heroes, Jack and Miles, clink glasses over the Central Coast’s finest Pinot NoirA–Z: from ‘Bob’ Mondavi to Xylem sap-sensors and pink Zinfandel – California wine in bite-size