The New California Wine: A Guide to the Producers and Wines Behind a Revolution in Taste

This review first appeared on the web site 205food.comOn the cover of “The New California Wine,” (hereafter TNCW) Ted Lemon crouches between two manicured rows of vines. Evidently these vines have been cluster thinned, for there are bunches of grapes scattered around him. Pitifully, the clusters look somewhat like piles of animal dung.Ted’s pitchfork is turned downward and in his face we see anxiety and doubt. He seems ensnared in an existential crisis, his stance and features the perfect antithesis of “American Gothic.” What is it Ted? Where has the sunny California optimism gone?Sad to say, Ted has just realized something very disturbing. Namely, many California farmers don’t know how to grow grapes. If there is a startling takeaway from TNCW, this is it. If John Bonné’s favorite winemakers have it right, most California wine growers have got it nearly all wrong. How so? •Vine training systems (e.g. Guyot or VSP) that were suitable for “sun-deprived France” were adopted in California, even though the Golden State has too much sun, not too little. As Ehren Jordan puts it, California is “more like Tunisia” than Europe. •The nearly universal use of irrigation, according to Christian Moueix (of Chateau Petrus), means that “...the roots [of vines] are superficial, you don’t get terroir. It’s nice, it’s pleasant, it’s sugary maybe. But you don’t get depth. It’s not a terroir wine.” •Techniques to reduce yields, such as dropping grape clusters, might be the wrong strategy in California. Instead, what may be needed is higher yields, which would tend to reduce grape sugar levels. But as Steve Matthiasson notes, after two cool low-sugar growing seasons in a row “...they [grape growers] are desperate to climb back on and reaffirm their place as the makers of the best overdone wines in the world.”These California wine makers are critical of current farming practices for a very simple reason. No matter how good your winemaker, no matter how much Mega Purple or powdered tannin you add to your stainless steel tank, fine wine cannot be made from irrigated sun-scorched raisiny grapes. In sum, the New California Winemakers don’t like the big alcoholic “fruit bombs” that are made from grapes like this, wines that Bonné variously calls “Brand California” or “Big Flavor.”Wisely, I think, Bonné did not pen a manifesto for the New California Wine, nor did he try to pin down exactly what constitutes such a wine. It is a nascent movement after all. It is easier to identify the players and their stories than the precise character of the wine.In general, the players fall into three groups: 1. Old-school California winemakers who never heeded the call of high alcohol and high point scores (e.g. Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards and Kathy Corison of Corison Winery), 2. European transplants (e.g. Christian Moueix), and 3. Young winemakers whose palates were transformed by tasting and drinking European wines. This last group is certainly the vanguard of the movement.These winemakers vigorously deny any and all allegations they are trying to make European wines in the Golden State. They are wise to say this, even if it isn’t entirely true. The wine culture of California has been quite insular until recently, and the “group three” wine turks regard themselves as originals. But they don’t want to step on too many toes.TNCW is thick and textbook-like, a tangible sign of Bonné’s ambition. Inside the binding there are three major sections. The first looks at a variety of topics (with profiles of winemakers and observations on farming and winery economics), the second is a “road trip” through California’s wine growing counties, and the last is a wine buyer’s guide organized by grape variety.Bonné’s attempt to cram three books of material into one is only partly successful. You certainly admire his zeal, his curiosity, his palpable desire to explore every little gully of the new wine landscape. He is very ambitious. Yet, the book sometimes feels like a pastiche of his newspaper and magazine articles. At other times it reads like a conference packet, where the attendees contribute papers with titles like “The New Paradigm of ___” or “Back to the Future: ____ and Beyond.” By the way, the latter is actually one of Bonné’s chapter titles. Try to fill in the blank.The “road trip” format is often used by wine writers and it has been a very successful template for books by Kermit Lynch (“Adventures on the Wine Route”) and Alice Feiring (“The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization”). Lynch and Feiring profile their winemakers in some depth and many of their portraits are very memorable. Bonné is less successful with his people. Many of his character profiles have little more depth than a cocktail party introduction. These people keep popping up in various parts of the book, but you can never quite remember their stories.Bonné is much more successful when he is describing landscape, terroir, and the search for new grape varieties and marginal microclimates. He is at his best in the far reaches of Santa Barbara County or on a rainswept ridge on the periphery of the Santa Rita Hills. He makes you feel you are there.Whether you will enjoy this book or not will largely depend on the wines you like and your evaluation of Bonné’s peripatetic style. If I could rewind the past and read this book anew, I would treat it like a box of chocolates, to be sampled now and then over a couple of weeks. Bonné’s book can be delicious, a real treat. But I wouldn't make a big meal of it.

A truly great CURRENT California reference and guide chronicling the states most noteworthy artisanal producers. If you seek out wines of balance that express varietal and regional typicity Bonne outlines the very best producers for virtually every varietal grown in CA. And, although its thorough, it is approachable and not the length of War & Peace (like many wine books out there...). If you are serious about wine or want to get there, this is a must read. If you are trying to find smaller, hands on producers to check out and support but, don't know where to start - start here. It would take one years of scouring online wine forums and traveling to the regions themselves to get the inside story on these producers, learn how and why they came to do what they do and know what they hit out of the park among their various offerings. If you have left domestic wines behind due to richer styles being front and center in the eyes of many "critics" and publications, the revolution has begun so bring your butts home.PS: Will be buying several copies for holiday gifts - killer gift under $25 that anyone who drinks wine will love.

I am an avid California wine drinker, have tried the very Cult wine as well as a lot of the wines profiled in this book. While I acknowledge a lot of the information mentioned in this book is true, the way the author portraits, and to a certain degree vilifies the riper style of California wine, disappoints me. There are certainly wines that are over ripe and not pleasant, yet the author disregard that the majority of them were delicious, contains a lot of nuances, and is what make California wine famous, same as the "new California" wine. As a result, I gladly read this book as a very information piece, but I do not totally agree with the author's view point, which to me is slightly biased and one sided.

Over the past several years, Jon Bonne has emerged as one of the most insightful and compelling voices in the world of wine. His writing for the San Francisco Chronicle has often focused on finding and trumpeting undiscovered (or forgotten) gems, frequently from his home state of California. In The New California Wine he goes even deeper, exploring and introducing us to a wide variety of regions, vineyards, and producers who are continuing to show what is possible in California wine.In refreshingly unpretentious prose, he weaves together the old and the new, and sheds a much deserved spotlight on folks like Steve Edmunds, Ted Lemon, and Rick Longoria who have been pursuing their own visions for decades (often against the grain of popular taste), while at the same time highlighting young upstarts.We have been waiting a long time for a book like this. Much like Andrew Jeffords’ classic The New France, The New California Wine is both a terrific resource on California wine and a highly enjoyable read.

Jon Bonne goes about explaining the current state of California wine by focusing on the move away from what he calls "Big Flavor" in this engaging and thought provoking read. Running through his engaging prose is a strong point of view, a point of view that Bonne pulls no punches in expressing. His favored producers (Ridge Vineyards, Calera, Littorai) are given great praise for their willingness to buck the Big Flavor band wagon, and Bonne pulls no punches in heaping scorn on wineries he feels lost their way in producing Big Flavor wines (resulting in some uncomfortable criticism of some of our cellar jewels like Sea Smoke, Aubert, Harlan, and Bond).I strongly recommend reading The New California Wine, even if you are a collector who has some of the Big Flavor California wines in their cellar - Bonne's clear thesis keeps the writing focused, and whether you like his conclusions or not, you will be far more knowledgeable about California wine as a result of following Bonne's train of thought.

Just an up to date look into Cali wines. I'm currently studying towards my WSET Diploma and found this very helpful.Worth every penny

Livre très différent d'un guide classique sur les vins. Les descriptions sont très claires et c'est une façon originale de présenter l'évolution de la viticulture en Californie !Je recommande vivement cet ouvrage.

Nothing to say but great. On time. Great packaging. As always. Even earlier than what they sad when I bought it.