October 09, 2011

Passion on the Vine by Sergio Esposito

This is a book for a wine lover. Since I think most wines taste like vinegar I'm not sure where that leaves me. I knew it was going to be about wines a bit, but I didn't expect 90% of the book to be about wine. Especially since it called itself a memoir about food and family as well.

Sergio Esposito moved to the states when little. Even when he was little though he loved wines and built himself up through the years to where he could have a career in wine. This led to him becoming a buyer of wines for a store he opened in New York completely dedicated to Italian wines. For these buyings he frequently travels to Italy and seeks out the best. But he also learns the stories behind them and the methods used to produce these vastly different wines.

Esposito focuses more on wine than any people in this novel. But he does come across quite a few characters. And the stories he tells about them are nice. They are all devoted to their work but each is different and has different attributes that makes them completely unique. This ranges from the Prince who destroyed all his vines but then gave away all his wine to the wine maker who liked to be at the height of fashion at all times.

There were a few saving graces to this book. The few descriptions of food were absolutely luscious and I found myself wanting to eat all of it. Even the rabbit when normally I think bunnies are too cute to be eaten. Guess I may have to venture out in my adventures of eating more from the way this book makes all types of different foods sound amazing. But then we get into the descriptions of the wines, and like I said for a wine lover this may have been great, but for me it just went on and on about things I didn't really care about. It held a few interesting points but it just droned on so much that those who only just like wine or aren't big fans of all probably wouldn't be much interested in the book.

Great for wine lovers, not as great for me. Luckily the food descriptions made it somewhat worthwhile.

Passion on the Vine
Copyright 2008
284 pages

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