cover image The Vineyard at the End of the World: Maverick Winemakers and the Rebirth of Malbec

The Vineyard at the End of the World: Maverick Winemakers and the Rebirth of Malbec

Ian Mount. Norton, $26.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-393-08019-3

Argentina’s winemaking history gets its comprehensive due in a chronicle from Mount, a freelance wine writer who lives in Argentina. He highlights the Mendoza region; its champion grape, Huarpe; and most-lauded winemakers, and sets the story in the agriculturally difficult landscape, the indigenous Incas and their irrigation system, and the Spanish, who brought the grapes and wine. Eventually, inventive winemakers recognized enormous potential but often encountered problems in distribution. Encouraged by mavericks like Mondavi, and learning from the industry revolution in California in the, Mendoza’s winemakers seized the moment just as they had improved the quality of their wines. In time, the once-maligned Malbec grape, which so flourished there that Robert Parker repeatedly forecast its and the region’s success. Mount’s impressive history, while repetitive at times, provides ample regional and global color in a lively addition to wine literature. (Jan.)