A Vineyard in My Glass

By: Gerald Asher

Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan

Gerald Asher, who served as Gourmet's wine editor for 30 years, has drawn together this selection of his essays, published in Gourmet and elsewhere, for the collective insight they give into why a wine should always be an expression of a place and a time. Guiding the reader through 27 diverse wine regions in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and California, he shows how every wine worth drinking is a reflection of its terroir - in the broadest sense of that untranslatable word.

In evocative reminiscences of wines, winemakers, and the meals he has had with them, he weaves together climate, terrain, and local history, sharing his knowledge and experience so skillfully that we learn as we are entertained and come to understand, gradually, that the meaning and pleasure of a wine lie always in the context of its origin and in the concurrence of where, how, and with whom we enjoy it.

©2001 Gerald Asher (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

over my head

What did you like best about A Vineyard in My Glass? What did you like least?

The author occasionally would describe the growing conditions which allows certain wines to excel. However I got the book to learn more about wine in general but was soon lost by the various nuances of French wine producers, and found that I was learning little despite the time invested. This would be better for someone who already is quite knowledgeable about wines

Could you see A Vineyard in My Glass being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

An adventure of wine and where it is made

This book is a collection of articles from Gourmet magazine about wine. This is an interesting book that helped me to understand the small differences in climate, terrain, soil, sunlight, and moisture change the wine from spectacular to ho hum and vice versa. The material is well written and delivered with finesse. I recommend this book.

Amazing content!

Asher is one of my favorite wine writers. I love this book. The narrator wasn’t my favorite but it wasn’t painful like some other non-fiction audio books.

Warning: You Will be Extremely Jealous

Gerald Asher is a redoubtable British "wine personality" who has the enviable career of traveling to exotic countries, drinking the best they have to offer, and then writing about it.

A Vineyard in My Glass is the dashing memoir of Asher's vineyard apprenticeship in Europe when he was a young man, plus lots of local history about all the places he visited.

It was enjoyable to listen to and, sent me to the cupboard for a glass of wine.

Really hard to listen to

I was looking for a book, that describes more about wine in general. This one is more about specific wine regions, a bit of their history, specific vineyards in the region, as well as their wine.

As the author started to write about wine in the late 70s/early 80s, a lot of the early part in the book is from the 80s and therefore describes wines, that are no longer available. Don't get me wrong, if you know the area a bit, then this can still be interesting. If not, then it's hard to listen to.

His pronunciation of the different locations is adventurous and makes it actually quite hard to find those on a map. But even worse is the (in the early chapters) strong French accent, that the narrator makes up, each time he speaks about French winemakers. This really makes it hard to listen to the book. I am not sure, if I go on to find out, how his made up Spanish, Italian or German accent sounds...