Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer's Tour of France

• Paperback - 01 September, 1990 - North Point Press
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• By: Kermit Lynch
• ISBN: 0374522669

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Reviews by readers

Essential

Kermit Lynch is an importer of artisanally made wines. His book is both a diary of his search for wines of authentic character throughout France and a manifesto in defense of an ethic of winemaking that is falling out of fashion. The wines Lynch adores are not always the greatest wines in the world, but there is a certain idiosynchratic appeal to them. They are crafted according to a philosophy that abhors chemical or mechanical adulterants and emphasizes minimal human intervention during the wines' elevation in cellars. Consequently, when nature cooperates, they are expressive of the subtlest elements of their vineyards' terrain, and they taste best with the cuisine prepared where they are grown. But they are risky to make and must be sold in a marketplace that seldom rewards the effort.

Lynch's best chapters are his entries on Provence, the Rhone, and Chablis, which give readers a clear sense of what these wines ought to taste like, how the regions' winemaking traditions have evolved over time, and what differentiates extraordinary examples from underachievers. Each chapter focuses on a handful of producers recalcitrant to change with whom Lynch has longstanding relationships. His analysis, with winemaking scion Gerard Chave, of the component parts of the legendary J. L. Chave Hermitage (one of the best wines in the world) might be the most vivid deconstruction of a taste ever put into words. The chapter on Provence is one of Lynch's more saccharine entries -- his ties to the family behind Bandol's Domaine Tempier are personal, and Lynch introduced and evangelized this hitherto obscure wine to American markets -- but it makes an eloquent case in favor of the rustic and less glamorous country wines of France. True to Lynch's evident loyalties, then, the chapter on the gold standard of French wine, Bordeaux, is among the weakest in the book, focusing on a small producer in Graves unrepresentative of the sprawling aristocratic estates that characterize the region. It tells a charming story, but it is only a footnote to the story of Bordeaux.

Lynch, to his credit, seldom romanticizes his work and does not disguise that he is a businessman who seeks these wines because he loves them but also because it is his trade. Because he has carved out for himself a small market for specialties in a large industry increasingly tending towards uniformity, his interests differ from most importers', inspiring him to remark that he sometimes feels more like a historical preservationist than a winebuyer. Wherever Lynch travels he is as likely to be disillusioned by a once-illustrious producer succumbing to cheap shortcuts as he is to find a truly special product he can sell with a clean conscience to customers who trust his name as a talisman of authenticity. He betrays his commercial interests somewhat by drafting some passages almost as advertisements for his wines, most of which don't need it, and also by repeatedly condemning the practice among American and English reviewers of awarding ratings to wines and vintage years on a numerical scale. In principle, this practice should not offend anyone capable of articulating the gradations of his preferences, but merchants with inventories to sell resent it deeply when a powerful critic advises consumers to avoid a thin vintage. Some such critics have done as much as Lynch to lead consumers to special wines, so I won't concede the principle. But I will drink any of Lynch's wines whenever the opportunity arises, and readers inclined to do the same will find in this book the context that renders them all 100-point experiences.

Tasty wine adventure

This book by Kermit Lynch, shows that reading about wine is almost as nice as drinking a nice tasteful glass of wine! You will enjoy traveling with Kevin Lynch through France. Read about the hilarious stories and while reading you will feel like a wine-taster.

An excellent book for wine lovers

This is an engaging and well-written book by a quirky and opinionated author whose love for wine and wine makers is infectious. Anyone who loves wine will enjoy this book enormously. Occasional preachy tone is forgivable!

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