Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 21

world. "The Bottom Line" examines rising prices in fine-wine-trading
indices and the price of first-growth Bordeaux represented by half a
day's work. It also looks at global vineyard land prices.
The Atlas is also available on iPad, featuring note-taking capabilities
and searchable, scrollable maps. -Corey Warren
The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, MW (Octopus Publishing/Mitchell Beazley, 2019, $64; $45 on Apple Books)

Somm Track
It takes some guts for an acclaimed sommelier to admit he started out
on Olde English 800, but André Hueston Mack has never lacked for
confidence. He can't afford to: He's an African-American man working in the overwhelmingly white business of wine. And as sophisticated
as we'd like to believe that world is, a quick dip into this Mack's book
shows how foolish that thought is.
99 Wines is Mack's recounting of the high points-and the low
points-of his wine career so far, of the bottles that have taken him
from driving around San Antonio drinking malt liquor to running a
wine bar in Brooklyn and an Oregon winery, Maison Noir. Most of the
book is enthusiastically positive; Mack's love for wine comes through
as he recounts lightbulb moments, whether they came with well-known
bottles like Voss Sauvignon Blanc; esoterica like Txomin Etxaniz Txakoli; or unicorns like 1983 Château Margaux. He thrills in how wine
has provided the social connective tissue in his life, introducing him to
winemakers like Kim Crawford, the first winemaker he ever lunched
with, or to his now-wife, Phoebe Damrosch, then a server who tagged
along on a tasting of Patricia Green's pinots. And Mack loves a good
wine pairing, whether it's 1985 J.J. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese with French fries or Raymond Lafon Sauternes with foie
gras.
He lightens things up with "playing cards" for each wine, offering
pointers often more amusing than useful. ("Pairs well with nude sketching in art class" he writes for the 1978 Mouton Rothschild.) But then
there are the glimpses of the darker side of the show-the world in
which waiters poured bottles of Stonestreet Merlot into potted plants
in order to pad their checks, and cops pocket traffic tickets in exchange
for dinner reservations; where skin color leads waiters to pre-charge a

gratuity on the bill and tasting rooms to shut their doors. While working
at The French Laundry and Per Se, Mack has been mistaken for everything from the one other dark-skinned person on staff to a pimp and a
drug dealer. It's in these entries that he does his best writing. The drinks
Mack profiles in 99 Bottles may not strike a chord with every reader, but
they are compelling stories of the power of wine. -Tara Q. ThomaS
99 Bottles A Black Sheep's Guide to Life-Changing Wines by André Hueston
Mack (Abrams Image, 2019; $25)

a handbook for naTural Wine
Bright pink brushstrokes against a somber navy background announce
Alice Feiring's intentions on the front cover of Natural Wine for the
People. She is here to bring some color to the drab world of wine, and
to explain her subtitled directives-what natural wine is, where to find
it, how to love it. Feiring's experience in this field is second to none,
and her cool-science-teacher vibe makes the technical parts of the book
feel fun-aided in no small part by Nishant Choksi's bold illustrations,
which have a playfulness and flair reminiscent of Shel Silverstein's art.
Feiring defines natural wine in the negative: No additives, and no
machinery. Both of these words might benefit from further definition; at one point, the use of a hose to remove excess CO2 before bottling crosses her "machinery" line. Feiring could also put forth a more
nuanced argument explaining why new oak is an unnatural additive
while Georgian clay qvevri are not.
Maybe it's the unconditional love of a parent for their child that
makes Feiring appear dogmatic at times, having seen the natural wine
movement from infancy to a worldwide phenomenon. The movement
has always tried to preserve some of that earthly soul of vineyards that
agribusiness tried so hard to bury under another layer of nitrogen fertilizer, and it deserves attention and celebration for that fact alone,
before the grapes even leave the vine. Even if Feiring can't convince
you completely on her definition of natural wine, this book will give
you a clear picture of how and where in the world to find producers of
soulful, traditional and low-intervention wines. -C.W.
Natural Wine for the People: What It Is, Where to Find It, How to Love It,
by Alice Feiring (Ten Speed Press, 2019; $19)
WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

Wine & Spirits - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2019