Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology - Hardcover

"There's witness to one of California's most magnetizing winemakers coming to terms with his more mature self." San Francisco Chronicle 20091018 "Sharp, irreverent musings on wine-everything from literary spoofs to serious essays. All are assembled here." Food & Wine 20091101 "I know of no other compendium of wine lit so erudite, witty, and straightforward as Grahm's remarkable book. " -- John Mariani Bloomberg News 20091115 "Brilliantly observed and beautifully rendered." New York Times 20091118 "A most entertaining course in oenology and an honest portrayal of one man's search for true originality and terroir." Fine Cooking 20100301 "Like a fine diamond. Every time you look at it from a different angle, you find a brilliant side you haven't seen before." California Grapevine 20100101 "Gorgeous volume...Packed with some of his best work." Wine & Spirits Magazine 20091201

This eclectic collection at last brings to a wide audience the irreverent, zany voice of Randall Grahm, visionary California winemaker and founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard. An iconoclastic send-up of the wine industry and a celebration of unsung grape varieties, the book features, among other things, Grahm's hilarious literary parodies - Joyce, Kafka, Pynchon, Salinger, and others - together with song lyrics, other snarky satires, poems, lectures, and more. Subtle undertones of gravitas with faint suggestions of earnestness lie beneath the humor, however, as Grahm passionately addresses the state of wine today: Where in wine does 'greatness' truly repose? How might true originality in New World wines be found? Do New World winemakers have the integrity and courage to unreservedly embrace terroir? This trove includes a very personal take on "Dante's Inferno" (Grahm's own vision of Wine Hell) and a collection of tunes from the rock opera "Born to Rhone". Other pieces offer a fascinating glimpse into the history of the Rhone Ranger wine movement and of Bonny Doon itself, told through the story of its adventurous wine labels. "Been Doon So Long" is a highly entertaining journey to find the 'truth of all things that may be found in the unlikely medium of a wineglass'.