Hardcover
272 Pages, 5.65 x 8.7 x 1.05 in
October 24, 2006
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
1400044820
9781400044825
From the Publisher
In the two decades since Bright Lights, Big City
reinvigorated contemporary fiction, Jay McInerney can claim a great
many accomplishments, including the mantle that Salon has
given him: "the best wine writer in America." Of his previous
collection, Bacchus and Me, Robert M. Parker, Jr.,
concluded: "Brilliant, witty, comical, and often shamelessly
candid and provocative." And The New York Times
added: "McInerney's wine judgments are sound, his anecdotes
witty, and his literary references impeccable. Not many wine
books are good reads; this one is."
In A Hedonist in the Cellar, he gathers more than five
years' worth of essays and continues his exploration of what's new,
what's enduring, and what's surprising, giving his palate a
complete workout and the reader an indispensable, idiosyncratic
guide to a world of almost infinite variety. Rieslings from
the Finger Lakes, Armagnac from Gascony, powerhouse amarones from
Valpolicella, the most fearsome critics in England,
chocolate-friendly bottles from all over the globe, new
developments in Chile and Argentina-these are only some of the
delights now ready to be savored in a collection driven not only by
wine itself but also the people who make it and those whose
enjoyment is matched by their curiosity.
Full of terroir and flavor, svelte personalities, and keen insight
into the trade, these are irresistible essays for anyone enthralled
by the manifold pleasures of wine.
From the Jacket
"Splendid vino vignettes [that] pique both curiosity and thirst."
--Jennifer Reese, Entertainment Weekly
"[McInerney's] research is impeccable and his judgments generally
astute . . . Wine writer or novelist, the man is a story teller and
a good one, [and] he his a hard-working professional who brings
solid reporting and exceptional narrative skills to a subgenre
woefully in need of them." --Frank J. Prial, The New York
Times
"Good wines leave you wanting more; so, too, good wine writing,
[and] from start to finish, first sip to last, A Hedonist in
the Cellar is crisp, stylish and very funny."
--Michael Steinberger, New York Times Book Review
"As bracing as high-acid Riesling . . . McInerney the novelist,
with his eye for detail and smart aleck wit, is never far from the
page, [and] he's able to get inside each destination and suss out
what makes it interesting, both by itself and in wine terms. By the
end of each three-day column, you can't help but yearn to go there
yourself, or at least open a bottle."
--Bruce Schoenfeld, The Washington Post Book World
"One of the most transparent of wine writers . . . His vision of
the widening wine world ranges from South America to South Africa,
New York to New Zealand, [while his] unfussy prose and his
celebration of lesser-known wines make him the most transparent of
wine writers."
--Mark Knoblaunch, Booklist
About the Author
Jay McInerney, whose wine column appears monthly in House &
Garden, is the author of seven novels, the most recent of
which is The Good Life. The 2006 recipient of the James
Beard Foundation's M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, he
lives in New York City.