Reading List from Wine & Culture Class at Napa Valley College

I was a latecomer to the class and it showed. I brought no plate or sliverware and worse, I was full. I had already had my dinner.  Paul Wagner, our teacher had eaten dinner too, but he managed to put away a full plate, explaining "I'm a professional." 

George Sainstbury would approve. In the introduction to his Notes from a Cellar-Book Saintsbury's editor Thomas Pinney says, "To delicate and fastidious tastes, such an appetite may seem coarse and undiscriminating; but there are others who may find it splendid, even heroic. The capacity to enjoy is, after all, a virtue. Saintsbury certainly had it, and in superlative measure."

The class is A Cultural Appreciation of Wine at Napa Valley College and learnin' never tasted so good. Wine flows. Food is savored. All in superlative measure.

The serendipity of a good read is also in superlative measure. 

I probably would not have stumbled upon Notes from a Cellar-Book if it had not been the only book from the class reading list that was still available to this latecomer.  It is a gem. More about that later - for now, let me share the class reading list - I plan to read them all. 

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayles

A Small Place in Italy by Eric Newby

Decantations Frank by Frank Prial

Under the Tuscan Son by Frances Mayes

Notes from a Cellar -Book by George Saintsbury

Tasting Pleasure by Jancis Robinson

Vineyard Tales by Gerald Asher

A Season in Spain by Larry Walker

 

Burgundy by Anthony Hanson

Puligny-Montrachet by Simon Loftus

Wine & Food of the Loire by Friedrich

Bordeaux by Robert Parker

Napa by James Conaway

Vino by Bruton Anderson

 

Vintage- the Story of Wine by Johnson

Dionysis by Hyams

The Wine and the Vine by Tim Unwin

The Origins and Ancient History of Wine by Patrick McGovern