Wine Economics

Long before the advent of conventional farming methods - which have focused on constant growth, human intervention, and genetic homogeneity - the apple had already grown to become the ubiquitous all-American symbol it is today. Known for their hardiness, ability to adapt to new environments, natural diversity, and plentiful bounty, wildly grown apples were once known as “America’s fruit” throughout the trading world.

Writing with wit and verve, Mike Veseth (a.k.a. the Wine Economist) tells the compelling story of the war between the market trends that are redrawing the world wine map and the terroirists who resist them. Wine and the wine business are at a critical crossroad today, transformed by three powerful forces. Veseth begins with the first force, globalization, which is shifting the center of the wine world as global wine markets provide enthusiasts with a rich but overwhelming array of choices.

On October 12, 2005, a massive fire broke out in the Wines Central wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. Within hours, the flames had destroyed 4.5 million bottles of California's finest wine worth more than $250 million, making it the largest destruction of wine in history. The fire had been deliberately set by a passionate oenophile named Mark Anderson, a skilled con man and thief with storage space at the warehouse who needed to cover his tracks.

In the early '70s, when America began to awaken to locally sourced food and wine, Gretchen Glasscock returned to Texas from the East with a degree from Columbia University and a penchant for research. Taking over management of the family's 20,000 acres of ranch land and seeking to diversify their interests, she upended a Texas A&M Study asserting that all Texas was a hot and humid climate suitable for growing only jug wines. She identified the region around Blue Mountain in Fort Davis, as cool and crisp, like Napa or parts of France.

One of the most influential economists of the decade-and the New York Times bestselling author of The Great Stagnation-boldly argues that just about everything you've heard about food is wrong. Food snobbery is killing entrepreneurship and innovation, says economist, preeminent social...

Inside the Chinese Wine Industry takes you on a thrilling adventure through the past, present, and future of wine in China. The wine business is one of the world’s most compelling industries, and China is considered the rising star. A hidden secret, the Chinese wine production continues to grow at an amazing pace. It is poised to soon enter the top five producing nations, supplanting long-established countries such as Australia.

This book explores the idea that table activities - the mealtime rituals of food preparation, serving, and dining - lay the foundation for a proper education on the value of civility, the importance of the common good, and what it means to be a good citizen. The arts of conversation and diplomatic speech are learned and practiced at tables, and a political history of food practices recasts thoughtfulness and generosity as virtues that enhance civil society and democracy.