The Battle for Wine and Love

Alice Feiring wrote a book in 2008 called "The Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization." I was intrigued because I too was getting a little tired of overly extracted, unctuous wines tasting like extracted raisins and wanted to hear how Alice saved the World. When the book came out it caused controversy and polarization among book reviewers, but I didn't read the reviews until I read the book twice. The second time I read the book, I had finished my UC Davis online course and while I don't agree with all of what Alice writes, in my opinion, some of the parts are better than the whole. The chapter on Alice's meeting with Dr. Roger Boulton and Dr. Douglas Adams showed me a different perspective because the book used in the course was written by Roger Boulton (Singleton, Bisson, and Kunkee) and Dr. Douglas Adams "taught" part of the Viticulture course. My take away from this is that while the UC Davis online course talks about the mechanics of making wine, both Roger Boulton and Doug Adams want us to put into our winemaking more than just the mechanics. So, we need to be familiar with all of the techniques for making wine, but we should try to make wine the way that we know how. In rereading the notes from all of the UC Davis online course, without the pressure of assignments and exams, I am finding that the authors have indeed presented all points of view.
Alice also tries to present all points of view in her book, even interviewing Robert Parker to get his side of the story. All in all, the book is a good read and it has made me rethink my approach to making wine.