Following Philippe

The Accidental Connoisseur

After Jeff McIlveen's wine seminar at the Ajax Public Library a few weeks ago, he recommended several books on wine, but the one that most interested me was a book called The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through The Wine World by Lawrence Osborne. I signed out the book that evening, took it home and began reading about Osborne's travels in the wine world.

Unfortunately, I had several other things occupying my time, so it took me a couple of weeks to finally finish reading the entire book (completed as of last night). Through his writing, Osborne shows that he is a far cry from the Robert Parkers of the world while at the same time proving he knows enough about wine to strike up conversations with the movers and shakers of the industry.

As he travels from California to France and then on to Italy, Osborne paints a picture of a man lost in the world of wine and trying to find his way. He struggles with the tastes and smells of wine, but what he seems to push back against the most is the elitism that follows vino everywhere.

The Accidental Connoisseur is a no-nonsense, humorous book about discovering the wine world, and I'd follow Jeff's lead in highly recommending it.

posted by Chris @ 9:08 AM