The Old Wine Shades (Richard Jury Novels) THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER-NOW IN PAPERBACK


Customer Review: my first and last Martha Grimes
A colleague (who reads them in French) recommended Martha Grimes, so out of curiosity I borrowed this from the library. What a disappointment! The characters are English but use American vocabulary (lines, gotten, etc.). The plot meanders boringly on until at last a body turns up, in chapter 30-something. My interest perked at that point, but the follow-up was so unsatisfactory. Why was this woman murdered? Where had she been for the previous 9 months? why didn’t they find the chewed rope in the cellar? Why is fridge spelled frig? How come sand dollars are washed up on Brighton beach? Why does everyone say San Gimignano is near Florence when it’s closer to Siena? The only character that shows any intelligence is a dog, but why does the dog stay with Harry when he’s obviously bored out of his mind? how come there’s an epilogue when there isn’t an end? A complete waste of time.
Customer Review: Very disappointed long time MG fan
I’m a long time fan of Martha Grimes, Richard Jury, Melrose Plant and the entire crew. This book was a BIG disappointment. I hung on through the anthropomorphism of Mungo (the dog) which really tested reality. I was waiting for that surprising, clever ending that would make everything worthwhile. It didn’t come. The story just stopped. Nothing….all of a sudden an epilogue that didn’t wrap up anything either.

Very disappointed. I’m not sure what that was about. Did she just get tired and decide she’d written too many words?

C?te D’Or: A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy The heart of Burgundy, the C?te D’Or, produces Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines that are unrivaled in their quality, intensity, and ability to age in the bottle. On this “golden slope” in eastern France, with its unique terrains and climats, grow the vines for some of the world’s finest wines, among them such heralded names as Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Roman?e, Puligny- and Chassagne-Montrachet, and Aloxe-Corton. Clive Coates, Master of Wine, has spent much of the last fifteen years in the C?te D’Or, and this book is the splendid result of his assiduous exploring, tasting, and assessing of the region’s wines.
With his unique access to each clos and domaine, and to individual negociants and vignerons, Coates may know more about the C?te D’Or and its wines than any other living writer. In Part One, he describes the C?te D’Or’s famous villages, introduces every manor grower and his wines, and evaluates each grand and premier cru, recommending the best sources in every climat. Part Two profiles the top sixty domaines, with notes on a vertical tasting of one of their wines. Part Three consists of vintage assessments on the best red and white years since 1945 and includes thousands of detailed tasting notes.
C?te D’Or is a work of love and passion, praise and criticism, understanding and scholarship. Above all, it is a celebration of one of the world’s great wine regions, the people who live there, and their fabled wines. It is an essential addition to every wine library and an inviting read for any wine lover.
Customer Review: Coates Review
Overall, the text is easy to read and it is educational. However, the individual wines reviewed are not even close to being up to date. Because this was written years ago, it doesn’t cover many of the new up and coming wines and vintners.
Customer Review: The best of its kind
Burgundy is one of the most difficult-to-grasp wine regions in the world. Many studies have been done on the soil, climate, wind direction, sun exposure, rainfall, etc., yet nobody really knows, yet, why one acre of Burgundy produces a certain kind of wine and the acre right next to it something different. Clive Coates book comes as close as humanly possible to explain it. He begins his sections with a “History” of the region, then continues with “Location”, “Vineyard”, and then defines and describes the wines made from the Grand Crus and the Premier Crus, recommending sources and also providing the size of each vineyard. Also, he covers vintages.

It’s amazing how Coates takes such a difficult region and maps it out so succinctly for us. Far better effort than Parker’s “Burgundy”.