Reviews for The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine

The average rating for The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-02-10 00:00:00 Justin J Freville I bought a bottle of Norton from Chrysalis Vineyards at the Total Wine and Beer and drank it while reading the book. I suggest you do the same. Call me a method reader. So...I met the author one night at a fancy shmancy restaurant in DC. He was reviewing it for the Washingtonian magazine, and we were delighting in a once-in-a-lifetime meal. When my friends and I said we were from Richmond, he started telling us about Danial Norton, the man from Richmond who accidentally discovered the Norton grape! So I am biased about this book because of the fond memories I have of that glorious night at the restaurant, and because I am fascinated that this grape that snuck into my life has been from Richmond VA this whole time and I never knew. I loved this story because I am into Virginia wines. Sadly most historical books bore the snot out of me. I have to admit, that some parts of this book are a wee bit dull. But...as someone who loves wine I found these parts slogging through. Mentions of Horton Winery got me all excited because I love their wines. So...I have a vested interest. Unfortunately Todd Kliman spilled the beans at dinner about the twist in the book, so I'm not sure if that would have made a difference while I was reading it. (I won't spoil it...I'm not that kind of girl.) But it is interesting. The reason I gave this four stars and not five is because of Mr. Kliman's writing style. I like literary journalism, and that is more what this book is than a novel. I had trouble with it because he would tease with nuggets of personal info, and then clobber you over the head with his assessment of what he thought was going on. Sometimes that was OK, but sometimes I felt like saying, hey, please let me make up my own mind about what I think about this fact. The coolest thing to me was that I went to a Virginia Wine Expo right after reading this book. I was on the lookout for the Norton grape. Lo and behold, I found it at the Cooper Vineyards. They have a wine called Noche with Norton grapes and chocolate flavor that knocks my socks off. The weird thing is...when I came home, I discovered that I had written "Cooper Vineyards - Noche" on my list of good things from about 4 or 5 years ago. I found it interesting because that wild vine that winds through this book also has a path through mine.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-09-18 00:00:00 Jason Newton I started this book when I first moved to the east coast 10 years ago. I got distracted and didn't make much progress. On the 10th year of my arrival I'm glad I finally finished it. After reading the first few chapters in 2010 I sought out Chrysalis Winery. It became a staple of my Virginia winery visits, bringing friends and dates here over the years, and almost getting married here in 2016 (we chose another winery that had more/better bathrooms haha). Now, after finally reading the rest of the book, I'm shocked to find out some absolutely amazing facts I never knew, including about the Norton grape, the owner Jenni who I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times, and the history of wine in Virginia. The book, while it starts and ends as a story about Virginia wine, very much becomes a history of wine in all of America. Highly recommend the read, but make sure you pick up a few bottles of Chrysalis Norton (and maybe the amazing 2008 Tannat) to accompany you along the journey.