God is My Broker

[Rebel Rose]

Actually, the first book I'd like to recommend is Wine and War -- I thought it would be a dusty read, but it turned out to be a real page turner with lots of humorous moments. I think you'll enjoy your favorite wines even more when you read about the vineyards being bombed and smashed by tanks; men, men, men and horses conscripted; Nazis pouring motor oil into full barriques, and marking them for confiscation as fuel; and vignerons building clandestine stills to produce copper sulfate. I've loaned the book out repeatedly, and it finally hasn't come back . . .

Another loaner that hasn't returned is God is My Broker, by Christopher Buckley.

A stock broker joins a monastery with a vineyard and winery, but the monks are still making wine in old cement tanks with rusted plumbing. The Pope's annual case of wine, which contains mysterious orange specks, makes him deathly ill, and in a fury he cuts off the monastery's funding, sparking a hilarious spoof on self-improvement and postive-thinking books. I just love a warped sense of humor. I've actually seen cement wine tanks at some of the old wineries here (eeuuuch) and the abalone farm on the coast near us uses old cement wine tanks to store their harvested seaweed for their expensive snails. (Double eeuuch.)

Anyone read these? Any other fun romps to recommend?

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Wine and War

God is My Broker

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Edited August 15, 2004 by DoverCanyon (log)

[docsconz]

God is my Broker is a fun read. I also loaned it out and never had it returned. As far as cement tanks, I believe one of the world's most interesting wines is vinified in cement tanks - Chateau Musar from Lebanon.

[dlc]

"If my memory serves me" on my last visit to Ch. Petrus they also had cement/concrete tanks. They were white-washed on the outside with all the trim painted red.

[Rebel Rose]

Lots of wineries use modern cement tanks with epoxy sealants or glass lining, and many are temperature controlled. The old tanks I've seen around here have not been used in decades and have rough, cracked and weathered surfaces where bacteria and fungi have set up housekeeping! Not to mention the snails. It's tanks like those that I picture the monks using to make their 'Cana Nouveau.'