Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present Book

Second Edition of Napa Wine Shortlisted for the 2008 André Simon Award

Update of Sullivan's classic the only wine book nominated for the prestigious award

The trustees of the annual Andre Simon Awards have announced that the second edition of Charles L. Sullivan's Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present is shortlisted for Europe's most prestigious food and drink book awards. The winners will be announced March 12, 2009 in London. It bears noting that, given the Award's namesake, of the four contenders in the drinks category Sullivan's is the only wine book. For the complete shortlist go to andresimon.co.uk/awards_2008.html.

According to trustee Sarah Jane Evans, MW, after the assessors have reviewed all Award entries, the shortlist is compiled in a grueling day-long session. After the first 50 percent of entries are weeded out relatively quickly, "judging slows, until we reach some 16 books. At this point the judging grinds almost to a halt as each book is reconsidered and argued for. Sixteen is whittled down to ten and with the greatest difficulty to four."

Past winners include such famous texts as Jancis Robinson's The Oxford Companion to Wine; Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion; Remington Norman's Great Domaines of Burgundy; David Peppercorn's Bordeaux; Richard Mayson's The Wines and Vineyards of Portugal; Oz Clarke's New Classic Wines; Tom Stevenson's Sotheby's World Wine Encyclopedia; and Nicholas Faith's The Winemasters. Last year's recipient in the drinks category was Wine Behind the Label by Philip Williamson and David Moore, with a special commendation going to Charles Metcalfe and Kathryn McWhirter for their book The Wine andFood Lovers Guide to Portugal.

The Wine Appreciation Guild, in cooperation with the Napa Valley Wine Library, published the first edition of Napa Wine in 1994. The new edition material, collected in a 60-page chapter called "When Cabernet was King," brings the chronicle of Napa wine history through the 2007 vintage and the sale of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.

"Readers (of Napa Wine: A History of Mission Days to Present) are left with much to think about as they pour a glass of Napa Cabernet, Chardonnay or Zinfandel and taste what it's all about."

----James Laube, Wine Spectator, December 2008