Books: The New California by Elaine Chukan Brown
Ever since I heard that Elaine Chukan Brown was writing a book on Californian Wine, I was waiting to see it eagerly! I’ve known Elaine for many years, and I’ve co-presented with her at a number of conferences and toured with her as invited media several times. And she is never boring.
The good news is that this book, part of the Classic Wine Library series recently acquired by the prolific Adademie du Vin Library, lives up to expectations.
I’ll admit it, I read many of the Classic Wine Library titles out of duty rather than pleasure. On occasion they can be staid and formulaic, and the constraints of space mean producer profiles risk seeming a little generic and uninformative. Fortunately, Elaine’s writing ability (and the fact that she’s been given enough space) enables her to break free of the constraints of the format, and this is a really good read. It’s a thoughtful, intentional book that tells the story of California wine, past and present, putting it fully in its historical and cultural context.
Importantly, it grapples with the uncomfortable subject of how California as we know it came to be. Part 1 deals with history, and Chapter 1 is titled Indigenous Peoples and the Founding of California Wine. Then we hit prohibition, a massive bottleneck in the state’s wine industry. Things grow during the 1960s and 1970s, and we follow the modernization of the industry, the years of Parker, and the recovery from the years of Parker to where we are today. It’s current: the effects of social media, Covid, and recent wildfires are explored. This takes us to page 90.
Then the bulk of the book is the second section, titled Where we Grow. We look at climates, soils and take a journey through the varied wine regions in the state. This is brilliantly done, with concise descriptions of each of the regions, intelligent commentary, and pen notes on selected producers. Where opinions are expressed, and they are, Elaine gets it right. And this is thoroughly up to date.
Finally, we have a very important section, What We’re Facing. This is an intelligent and well thought out look to the future, seeing what the landscape for Californian wine is looking like in this rather uncertain time that we are living in. The cultural significance of wine, social considerations and climate change are all looked at in depth.
The book is big (468 pages plus 8 pages of front matter), but none of the space is wasted, and it comes in a light paperback cover which helps to keep weight down (in comparison, another Academie du Vin book I’m reviewing weighs much more and is 180 pages shorter, because of a hard cover and heavy paper).
If anyone has any interest in Californian wine, this is the book to buy.
- Format:Paperback
- ISBN:9781913141875
- Publication Date:14-04-2025
- Pages:468
