May 2002
As the hospitality battle between the front and the back of the house wages on, wine knowledge can often be the restaurant manager's saving grace and many a chef's down fall. For a chef, knowing a little on the subject of viticulture, is like knowing a little bit about the martial arts - it can make you dangerous!

If like me; you are a chef with a healthy interest in wine that is only troubled by a short attention span, you probably find the majority of wine publications as dry as a cheap glass of Rioja. However you need fear no longer. I may have just the book for you. Bacchus and Me - Adventures in The Wine Cellar by Jay McInerney.

Author Jay McInerney is actually a novelist by trade and not a wine writer. His wine writing career began as a form of moonlighting. His style is unique, earthy and lacking the usual nauseating snobbery that one expects to encounter with words on wine. His novelistic (if there is such a word) tendencies, blended with humor and analogies keeps Bacchus and Me a light, interesting, educational read. Take for example his view of Californian Chardonnay; "Until recently the more expensive Californian Chardonnays tended to resemble the women of Playboy and Beverly Hills: Their homogeneous voluptuosity often had more to do with technology than with nature." And describing the traditional use of Merlot grapes in Cabernet Sauvignon, he offers "...Cabernet Sauvignon was Lennon to Merlot's McCartney; Cab provided the guts Merlot brought a bit of lyrical finesse." Get the picture learning can be fun? Within Bacchus and Me, McInerney generously reveals all he's learned on his worldwide journey to understand wine. In chapters on reds, whites, dessert wines champagne, aperitifs and more - leaving no major label or grape varietal unmentioned.

As McInerney says "The next best thing to knowledge is the appearance of knowledge." Bacchus and Me will soundly set you on the road to wine wisdom. And provide you with the kung-fu kick to take down your restaurant manager...

Read McInerney's Cliff Notes from the Cellar