Red & White: An unquenchable thirst for wine

Description

With Red & White, Oz Clarke has reinvented wine writing. This is a book to read for pleasure, rather than merely refer to. Combining fast-paced witty memoir with passionately opinionated guide, Oz pops the cork on his life-long love affair with wine. The best loved wine communicator of our time, Oz Clarke is the guest you want at your table, the person to select the wine, and the ideal drinking companion. He explains how, why & where he fell in love with wine; he explains the essentials of how wine is grown and made today; then takes you into the world's wine regions and introduces you to the wines he loves. Oz reveals how he tastes wine and how you can enjoy wine whatever the budget. He covers with equal care & attention all categories of wine, from the blue-chip to the most affordable. With Red & White, you are in the hands of the best-informed and the most inspirational guide, and you will pick up, without even trying, a wealth of knowledge that Oz is bursting to share with you. With climate change and the move to organic & sustainable practices, wine is evolving faster than ever before. And hundreds of local grape varieties, until recently facing extinction, are also being rediscovered. There have never been so many brilliant & original wines. To discover them, all you need is a glass in your hand, a sense of adventure, and Oz's Red & White as your companion & inspiration!

Oz Clarke had an idyllic childhood in the Kent countryside. He was head chorister at Canterbury Cathedral Choir School. He acted, sang and wine-tasted his way through university, then spent a decade acting with the RSC and featuring in West End musicals - he starred as Peron in Evita. His famous victories in high-profile wine-tasting competitions brought him jobs on two national newspapers, and in 1984 he turned to full time writing and television work. The BBC's Food and Drink made him a household name and was broadcast around the world, as were his later 'Oz and James' wine adventures with James May. His many books have been translated into sixteen languages, he has won every major wine-writing prize, and he is an Officier de l'Ordre du Merite Agricole. When he is not visiting vineyards and wineries, chairing wine competitions or presenting innovative concerts with Armonico Consort, Oz lives in London and complains about not playing enough golf.

Red & White effectively captures the pure essence of Oz and it tells you what he thinks - an illuminating joy in a world in which thinking is somewhat out of fashion . . . As close as you can get to listening to Oz chat off the cuff - sharing his great enthusiasm for the geography, taste and stories in wine - this book would be a fantastic Christmas present for anyone who likes wine, Oz or both * Victoria Moore, Telegraph * Oz Clarke has done an enormous amount to democratize wine drinking, countering, with his unpretentious charisma, arguments about snobbery. Red and White is a personal account of his love of wine which exemplifies all his best qualities -- Kevin Begos * Times Literary Supplement * It functions as both a memoir and a guide to Oz's world of wine and, my God, he really can write. There are passages recalling his Kentish upbringing that reminded me of Orwell's Coming up for Air * Henry Jeffreys, Spectator * The latest book from Oz Clarke, the popular British wine communicator and long-time host of the BBC's Food and Drink show, is part memoir, part guide, always interesting and ever amusing * Antonio Galloni, Vinous * Aimed at anyone who likes wine, wants to know more and loves a damn good yarn in the process . . . full of joie de vivre, wit, opinion and anecdotes * John Stimpfig, Editor of Decanter * Red & White is very entertaining, full of Oz's pithy and pertinent observations. Oz's enthusiasm is immediately and irresistibly engaging -- Rosemary George MW, author of Wines of the Languedoc Oz is one of the wine greats and this book embodies all his best qualities - it's good enough to read in bed. Buy it for everyone you know! * Victoria Moore, BBC Good Food * Red & White is an oenojumble of autobiography, travelogue, history, encyclopaedia and viewpoints. His very evocative style of writing and vivid descriptions embellish his stories with great slicks of colour . . . He loves to hold his audience in the palm of his hand. Although it looks, on the surface, as if Clarke gave up his acting career for wine, it's probably more accurate to say that he simply entwined the two . . . He effervesces with his love for wine, eyes closed with passion, words tripping over each other in sheer, giddy joy -- Jancis Robinson.com The breadth of Clarke's knowledge and experience, coupled to a conspicuous absence of pomposity, makes for easy and entertaining reading. Moreover, this part-memoir, part-survey of the world's wines is bang up to date on everything * Jeremy Clarke, Literary Review * Oz is brilliant. His knowledge of wines and sense of humour always cut to the chase -- Jamie Oliver Author and wine expert Oz Clarke is deeply knowledgeable. His writing is uniquely inspiring and readable and his conversational style conveys unbounded joy and enthusiasm for his subject. His latest book, being a memoir of how he fell in love with wine (as well as a brilliant wine guide), is an important one. Any wine lover will thoroughly enjoy reading about Oz's adventures and getting his wine advice * Susy Atkins, Delicious * This book does cover the world and its wines, but in an individual and personal style. Definitely not a reference book, this is one to read and enjoy * Yorkshire Post * Food & Drink was compulsive viewing because it opened a nation's palates to the joys of wine, opened their eyes to a rapidly expanding world of winemaking. Oz Clarke democratised wine. Once the preserve of middle-aged men in pin-striped suits pretentiously swirling their Claret, Oz demonstrated that wine can be enjoyed by everyone. Even posh wine. Oz was like 'us' and, if he liked wine, 'we' could like wine as well. Oz's sheer love of, and infectious enthusiasm for, wine have made him an educator and communicator without equal over many years. His knowledge, razor-sharp palate & humour are driven by a resolve to help as many people as possible to drink better wine * Neal Martin, Vinous * Part memoir and part opinionated guide, Red & White is brimming over with lipsmacking wine tips as Oz recalls how he fell in love with wine, and how to enjoy the best of it, however limited your budget * Daily Express * The ultimate handbook for the wine connoisseur * Sunday Mirror * All sides of Clarke come together . . . in the pleasingly eccentric Red & White, which is part anecdotal ride through Clarke's life and times in wine, part perceptive and very current guide to his favourite wines, wine places and wine people. The tone is deftly brisk, and the trademark sunny personality shines through the larky asides of drinking derring-do. But there's a serious thought alongside the wit, and flashes of lyricism with the lightly worn knowledge in a book that, rather like the man himself, manages to be a whole lot of fun without being at all superficial * World of Fine Wine *