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Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer's Tour of France
When Adventures on the Wine Route was first published, Victor Hazan said, "In Kermit Lynch's small, true, delightful book there is more understanding about what wine really is than in everything else I have read." A quarter century later, this remarkable journey of wine, travel, and taste remains an essential volume for wine lovers. In 2007, Eric Asimov, in The New York Times, called it "one of the finest American books on wine," and in 2012, The Wall Street Journal pro-claimed that it "may be the best book on the wine business." Praise for Kermit Lynch and for Adventures on the Wine Route has not ceased since the book’s initial publication a quarter century ago. The Wall Street Journal proclaimed it “the best book on the wine business.” Full of vivid portraits of French vintners, memorable evocations of the French countryside, and, of course, vibrant descriptions of French wines, this new edition of Adventures on the Wine Route updates a modern classic for our times.
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1988
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January 14, 2020
A bit old, but a great overview and tour through French wines. Fascinating to see that even then the wines that tasted best were not the big names, but the ones who were doing it "the old way" and not using huge modern technology that filtered the wine. But this of course doesn't scale so less and less of these are around.
One fascinating thing to me was how much Kermit railed against the big, bold, strong reds. Because those are my favorites!
"in those days the California palate (mine included) demanded big mouth-filling wines at the expense of any other virtues, including authenticity."
But he points out time and time again that a good wine should pair with what it will be eaten with. And this means one can drink a wide variety of wines, depending on what is being eaten. This, along with many of the examples he gives has helped push my thinking a little about what wines to buy.
"A wine can only be judged as it relates to the environment in which it is served. The Chardonnay that looks best in the context of a comparative tasting is not likely to win next to a platter of fresh oysters. I began to notice that most of the blind-tasting champions in my own cellar remained untouched, because I had no desire to drink them. Just as they had overwhelmed the other wines to win a blind tasting, they overwhelm practically any cuisine. Drink with Stilton? lamb fat? enchiladas?"
Another interesting bit was the examples he gave about how much shipping and storage matters. He would give examples of shipping wine via ordinary methods that arrived flat, and how it only tasted the same if shipping correctly.
"The difference between a wine shipped at cellar temperature and one shipped in a standard container is not subtle. One is alive, the other cooked. I can taste the difference. And one never knows exactly how much the wine will suffer, because the climate en route cannot be predicted. It might arrive dumb like those first de Montilles, or it might arrive dead. By reefer the shipping costs are higher, but the wine is not damaged."
Another bit I loved learning about was how much the terroir affects the taste of the grapes. Not just the soil either, but how much sunlight, and even things like nearby plants like sage, rosemary, lavender, thyme - he gave a great example of how one wine one year suddenly stopped tasting like blackberries, and he asked the vintner what happened, and learned that the wineries neighbor had removed some blackberry bushes that bordered their properties. Fascinating.
"There is only one possible explanation for this mysterious transfer of aromatic quality from one type of vegetation to another. Bees! The bees gather nectar from blossoms—in this case, wild-currant blossoms—then they alight on the grape blossoms, their little legs fuzzy with pollen from the currants."
Wines it mentions to try:
* Meursault: white and mineral
* Domaine Tempier: best reds in Provence
* Domaine de la Gautière: just outside the border of Côtes du Rhône but just as good
* Northern Rhone: There are but a handful, including some of France’s noblest: Saint-Péray, Cornas, Saint-Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Condrieu, Château Grillet, and Côte Rôtie
* Cote Rotie: A Côte Rôtie is by no means light stuff; it is a substantial wine, but what is unusual is this saplike quality combined with a certain finesse, a certain delicacy. Top it off with that amazing perfume of Syrah fruit grown in this special terroir and you have a wine set apart from all others. Anyone can make a heavy, oaky wine. All you need is a new barrel and sugary (or sugared) grape juice. But a Côte Rôtie that tastes like Côte Rôtie can come only from the terroir of the roasted slope and from the traditional vinification developed over the centuries in the cellars of Ampuis.
* Bergundy: Savigny or Pernand, a Mercurey or Rully. Volnay or Pommard, Chambolle or Nuits.
* Today, from all the appellations of the northern Rhône that produce white wine, there is only one sure thing year in and year out, and that is the quality of the Chave Hermitage blanc
"Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull. People talk about the mystery of wine, yet most don’t want anything to do with mystery. They want it all there in one sniff, one taste. If you keep an open mind and take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover."
One fascinating thing to me was how much Kermit railed against the big, bold, strong reds. Because those are my favorites!
"in those days the California palate (mine included) demanded big mouth-filling wines at the expense of any other virtues, including authenticity."
But he points out time and time again that a good wine should pair with what it will be eaten with. And this means one can drink a wide variety of wines, depending on what is being eaten. This, along with many of the examples he gives has helped push my thinking a little about what wines to buy.
"A wine can only be judged as it relates to the environment in which it is served. The Chardonnay that looks best in the context of a comparative tasting is not likely to win next to a platter of fresh oysters. I began to notice that most of the blind-tasting champions in my own cellar remained untouched, because I had no desire to drink them. Just as they had overwhelmed the other wines to win a blind tasting, they overwhelm practically any cuisine. Drink with Stilton? lamb fat? enchiladas?"
Another interesting bit was the examples he gave about how much shipping and storage matters. He would give examples of shipping wine via ordinary methods that arrived flat, and how it only tasted the same if shipping correctly.
"The difference between a wine shipped at cellar temperature and one shipped in a standard container is not subtle. One is alive, the other cooked. I can taste the difference. And one never knows exactly how much the wine will suffer, because the climate en route cannot be predicted. It might arrive dumb like those first de Montilles, or it might arrive dead. By reefer the shipping costs are higher, but the wine is not damaged."
Another bit I loved learning about was how much the terroir affects the taste of the grapes. Not just the soil either, but how much sunlight, and even things like nearby plants like sage, rosemary, lavender, thyme - he gave a great example of how one wine one year suddenly stopped tasting like blackberries, and he asked the vintner what happened, and learned that the wineries neighbor had removed some blackberry bushes that bordered their properties. Fascinating.
"There is only one possible explanation for this mysterious transfer of aromatic quality from one type of vegetation to another. Bees! The bees gather nectar from blossoms—in this case, wild-currant blossoms—then they alight on the grape blossoms, their little legs fuzzy with pollen from the currants."
Wines it mentions to try:
* Meursault: white and mineral
* Domaine Tempier: best reds in Provence
* Domaine de la Gautière: just outside the border of Côtes du Rhône but just as good
* Northern Rhone: There are but a handful, including some of France’s noblest: Saint-Péray, Cornas, Saint-Joseph, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Condrieu, Château Grillet, and Côte Rôtie
* Cote Rotie: A Côte Rôtie is by no means light stuff; it is a substantial wine, but what is unusual is this saplike quality combined with a certain finesse, a certain delicacy. Top it off with that amazing perfume of Syrah fruit grown in this special terroir and you have a wine set apart from all others. Anyone can make a heavy, oaky wine. All you need is a new barrel and sugary (or sugared) grape juice. But a Côte Rôtie that tastes like Côte Rôtie can come only from the terroir of the roasted slope and from the traditional vinification developed over the centuries in the cellars of Ampuis.
* Bergundy: Savigny or Pernand, a Mercurey or Rully. Volnay or Pommard, Chambolle or Nuits.
* Today, from all the appellations of the northern Rhône that produce white wine, there is only one sure thing year in and year out, and that is the quality of the Chave Hermitage blanc
"Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull. People talk about the mystery of wine, yet most don’t want anything to do with mystery. They want it all there in one sniff, one taste. If you keep an open mind and take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover."
October 14, 2008
This a book for those who love wine and like to read about it from someone who is a master with prose, and also someone who, like me, confuses my limited knowledge of French language, geography, and wine growing regions. Written in the late-1980s, Kermit Lynch does not delve into pretentious, uppity musings on elite wines, but focuses on the purity of how a sense of place and its people translates into its wine. (There's a fabulous passage about how the male winemaker's wine often reflects the temperament and demeanor of his wife.) Even twenty years ago, he bemoans how winemakers feel obligated to respond to the fads of the wine market rather than staying true to what works for their land, vines, and all that is naturally available to them. Each chapter of the book features a different growing region in France, and Lynch does well to help convey the weather, terrain, cultural differences, and people in every place. A great read for those who like to read about wine and wouldn't mind a little French socio-geography lesson in the meantime.
August 11, 2024
Wine buyer Kermit Lynch takes us on a tour of the wines of France, through the Loire, Bordeaux, Languedoc, Provence, and all the other great wine regions.
I learned so much about the making of wine and drinking of wine from reading this book.
I learned so much about the making of wine and drinking of wine from reading this book.
January 23, 2008
I don't think I would have enjoyed this book nearly as much were I not already quite familiar with the wines and wine regions of France, and the wine industry in general. When he tells about drinking a Vouvray from the 40s, my mouth watered. When he tells about his first meeting with the Bruniers, I thought of the several bottles of Vieux Telegraphe I've been lucky enough to have drunk, and the wine grew even richer in my memory.
However, even if you are not a seasoned wino, the many annecdotes about the people he encounteres on his wine tours and little nuggets of French culture in general are very delightful. His descriptions of cuisine are wonderful, as are those of the landscapes.
It's also an interesting read for anyone interested in the evils of globalization and corporate take-overs; many of the passionate pleas that Lynch makes herewithin resonate highly with the anti-establishment of the wine industry (such as myself): the sterilization and homogenization of regional wines in the hopes of appealing to a global market, the evils of wine "scores" and "blind tastings," and the struggles of small wine merchants to keep up with huge banking corporations who can afford to pay more for a prized winemaker's juice. These points of contention were most recently (and quite forcefully) reiterated by the film Mondovino, but are done so much more eloquently, and in my opinion, effectively, here by Lynch.
Although the book is technically "out of date" for the current wine market, most of it holds up very well. In fact, trends Lynch sees in the mid-late 80s the beginnings of trends which only continued to become more prevalent, giving this book an almost prophetic feel. The principles he espouses are as worth pursuing and fighting for now as they were then.
If you enjoy this book, I must highly recommend the wine writing of Terry Theise: in the same vein, but Theise is like the Keith Richards to Lynch's Mick Jagger: not so in the spotlight, but possibly even more rock n roll in many ways. http://www.skurnikwines.com/msw/terry...
Kermit Lynch was an innovator of importing wine, and remains a savior of sorts. Above all, he is an example to anyone with a passion to pursue their passions.
However, even if you are not a seasoned wino, the many annecdotes about the people he encounteres on his wine tours and little nuggets of French culture in general are very delightful. His descriptions of cuisine are wonderful, as are those of the landscapes.
It's also an interesting read for anyone interested in the evils of globalization and corporate take-overs; many of the passionate pleas that Lynch makes herewithin resonate highly with the anti-establishment of the wine industry (such as myself): the sterilization and homogenization of regional wines in the hopes of appealing to a global market, the evils of wine "scores" and "blind tastings," and the struggles of small wine merchants to keep up with huge banking corporations who can afford to pay more for a prized winemaker's juice. These points of contention were most recently (and quite forcefully) reiterated by the film Mondovino, but are done so much more eloquently, and in my opinion, effectively, here by Lynch.
Although the book is technically "out of date" for the current wine market, most of it holds up very well. In fact, trends Lynch sees in the mid-late 80s the beginnings of trends which only continued to become more prevalent, giving this book an almost prophetic feel. The principles he espouses are as worth pursuing and fighting for now as they were then.
If you enjoy this book, I must highly recommend the wine writing of Terry Theise: in the same vein, but Theise is like the Keith Richards to Lynch's Mick Jagger: not so in the spotlight, but possibly even more rock n roll in many ways. http://www.skurnikwines.com/msw/terry...
Kermit Lynch was an innovator of importing wine, and remains a savior of sorts. Above all, he is an example to anyone with a passion to pursue their passions.
June 4, 2018
Lately, reading about food and wine has been putting me in a happy place. This book is from the late 80s so some of the info in it is probably outdated, but that doesn't take away from how delightful this is to read. This was such a good book and it didn't hit you over the head with tons of wine terminology etc. that just can become so boring and not enjoyable at all. It just let you learn about it all through a great travel/memoir type book about his journeys buying wine in France and all of the interesting people he encounters trying to buy wine for his shop in Berkley and what an innovator he was in the wine world. If you are into wine and into France or even if you are just into France or just into wine, this book is a fun read. I enjoyed it a lot.5 stars and best reads pile. I also must add that I had the pleasure of drinking one the wines that he imported the other day at dinner. I ordered it not knowing he was the importer and when I looked at the back of the wine, there was his name, what a pleasant surprise, and it was a really great bottle of wine. So there's that too.
Want to read
January 8, 2019[Book rec. from R. Sterling in "How to Eat around the world"]
July 3, 2020
This was clearly such an important book about wine at the time of its original publishing, and it stood the test of time and feels so fresh and relevant now. Lynch's voice is personal, un-assuming, rough around the edges in all of the right ways, and this book reads like an honest account of a pioneering career in wine. Interestingly, I read it shortly after Rajat Parr's Sommelier's Atlas of Taste, and the two books have parallel structures - organized by region, with personal anecdotes of visits to winemakers and travelogue style tips mingled with educational knowledge about the winemaking and wines themselves. The travel advice is the only part of the book that really feels dated - everything else feels perfectly relevant for a modern wine lover, especially when considering how original many of Lynch's insights were during his time.
The starting point here is particularly notable, as Lynch emphasizes a lot of what was going wrong with wine in the 70s/80s: press-led tastes for big wines, leading to heavy extraction styles yielding generic tasting high alcohol wines; processes such as chaptalization to meet these tastes; technological change (often coinciding with generational change at wine estates) leading to homogeneous wines; inconsistencies in bottling/shipping techniques leading to risk aversion in the industry. And Lynch's role in working toward solutions was clear: investing in temperature controlled shipping, persuading winemakers to bottle unfiltered cuvees for him, seeking out and encouraging producers experimenting with less chemical processes, etc. He often refers to 'natural' and 'living' wines, which is interesting given his timing around the start of some natural wine trends - but also argues against absolutism around things like sulfur dosing. Understood around the starting point of wines of the time, the trend toward more distinctive and 'natural' wines that resisted homogeneous monotony seems like a great evolution - but also suggests that maybe today's natural wine movement has gone far beyond the point of sensibility.
Lastly, the profiles of many of the vignerons and the transition away from the 'old France' make for interesting studies of character and place - the stories of the Peyraud family of Tempier, and the Bruniers of Vieux Telegraphe, were particularly enjoyable. Some of Lynch's forebodings for the future proved prescient, while others were happily avoided: his fear that Guigal's success would prove a poisoned chalice for Cote Rotie (disproven by subsequent trends), his worries over the succession of Gentaz's wines and legacy (mixed), and his concern over Chauvet's lack of natural Beaujolais heirs (disproven due to Lynch's work with the Gang of Four which is discussed in the afterword).
This was a highly worthwhile read in my wine education and will be a pillar of my wine library for years to come.
The starting point here is particularly notable, as Lynch emphasizes a lot of what was going wrong with wine in the 70s/80s: press-led tastes for big wines, leading to heavy extraction styles yielding generic tasting high alcohol wines; processes such as chaptalization to meet these tastes; technological change (often coinciding with generational change at wine estates) leading to homogeneous wines; inconsistencies in bottling/shipping techniques leading to risk aversion in the industry. And Lynch's role in working toward solutions was clear: investing in temperature controlled shipping, persuading winemakers to bottle unfiltered cuvees for him, seeking out and encouraging producers experimenting with less chemical processes, etc. He often refers to 'natural' and 'living' wines, which is interesting given his timing around the start of some natural wine trends - but also argues against absolutism around things like sulfur dosing. Understood around the starting point of wines of the time, the trend toward more distinctive and 'natural' wines that resisted homogeneous monotony seems like a great evolution - but also suggests that maybe today's natural wine movement has gone far beyond the point of sensibility.
Lastly, the profiles of many of the vignerons and the transition away from the 'old France' make for interesting studies of character and place - the stories of the Peyraud family of Tempier, and the Bruniers of Vieux Telegraphe, were particularly enjoyable. Some of Lynch's forebodings for the future proved prescient, while others were happily avoided: his fear that Guigal's success would prove a poisoned chalice for Cote Rotie (disproven by subsequent trends), his worries over the succession of Gentaz's wines and legacy (mixed), and his concern over Chauvet's lack of natural Beaujolais heirs (disproven due to Lynch's work with the Gang of Four which is discussed in the afterword).
This was a highly worthwhile read in my wine education and will be a pillar of my wine library for years to come.
January 7, 2022
California Wine shop entrepreneur and importer, Kermit Lynch, shares lessons from his travels through France early in his career. While the book was originally published in 1988, I had a 25th anniversary copy that included an epilogue from 2013 - and told a bit about what happened to him and those characters he met up with on the Wine Route.
This was a well received and awarded book in 1988 and I've wanted to read it for quite some time - it was an awesome Christmas gift! While I could recap all the characters (dozens) and wine regions (10) I won't. Instead, I'll share some of what I learned from Mr. Lynch. First off, the wine importing business is tough - long days drinking (it's not as glamorous as you think) in the cold, wet reaches of France's wine country made for very long days. The difficulty of making contacts and gaining trust from the winemakers was clear, as Mr. Lynch worked hard to find those wines he liked and he thought he would be able to sell to US consumers.
I also learned that price is not indicative of quality. There were many outstanding wines he found that could be sold for reasonable amounts back in the US - nothing like the soaring prices that a Bordeaux Premier Cru or Burgundy Grand Cru would command. I especially enjoyed bottles of a Chateauneuf du Pape and Côte Rôtie while reading about the Southern and Northern Rhone.
Mostly, Lynch convinced me that Terroir truly does matter. In a day where it seems everyone argues over everything - the concept of Terroir is not different. Some experts would say it is a made up idea - that the French are trying to make their wines "better" than others with the idea of terroir. While I believe that the place grapes are grown and wine is made does make a difference, reading about the differences between grapes/wines grown on a mountainside and those grown in the flat areas of the Rhone was thoroughly convincing.
Lynch also goes to great lengths to defend his position that natural wines are better, age better and allow the grapes to shine more than many of the more "processed" wines as made both in the late 80's and today. Don't fear the sediment!
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and plan to return to it often when thinking about and studying about French wines.
This was a well received and awarded book in 1988 and I've wanted to read it for quite some time - it was an awesome Christmas gift! While I could recap all the characters (dozens) and wine regions (10) I won't. Instead, I'll share some of what I learned from Mr. Lynch. First off, the wine importing business is tough - long days drinking (it's not as glamorous as you think) in the cold, wet reaches of France's wine country made for very long days. The difficulty of making contacts and gaining trust from the winemakers was clear, as Mr. Lynch worked hard to find those wines he liked and he thought he would be able to sell to US consumers.
I also learned that price is not indicative of quality. There were many outstanding wines he found that could be sold for reasonable amounts back in the US - nothing like the soaring prices that a Bordeaux Premier Cru or Burgundy Grand Cru would command. I especially enjoyed bottles of a Chateauneuf du Pape and Côte Rôtie while reading about the Southern and Northern Rhone.
Mostly, Lynch convinced me that Terroir truly does matter. In a day where it seems everyone argues over everything - the concept of Terroir is not different. Some experts would say it is a made up idea - that the French are trying to make their wines "better" than others with the idea of terroir. While I believe that the place grapes are grown and wine is made does make a difference, reading about the differences between grapes/wines grown on a mountainside and those grown in the flat areas of the Rhone was thoroughly convincing.
Lynch also goes to great lengths to defend his position that natural wines are better, age better and allow the grapes to shine more than many of the more "processed" wines as made both in the late 80's and today. Don't fear the sediment!
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and plan to return to it often when thinking about and studying about French wines.
July 6, 2012
At a recent wine tasting we were comparing notes on the bottlings we liked best--can there be any surprise they were all Kermit Lynch imports, including one from his touchstone producer, Domaine Tempier? These wines all embodied a certain kind of honesty, integrity, and truth to form, especially the Tempier. Indeed, it is the philosophy of Tempier--hard work, graciousness, respect for tradition, and innovation that is at the heart of this wonderful, wonderful book.
"Adventures on the Wine Route" is not a rose-tinted look at France and its wine producers--Kermit is extremely critical of many things, and it is a testament to his writing ability that the reader hangs on every word, cringing along with him when he goes to Chablis, or witnesses a favored producer cut corners in the name of "progress". Though it is tempting to view the book as an anti-globalization tract _avant la lettre_, it is really much more than that; Lynch has spent forty years importing French and Italian wines into the heart of California wine country, he is hardly an _anti-mondialiste_! What he does do is advocate passionately for natural wines, made true to their conditions, their terroir. This book was published in 1988; many of the devastating trends that Kermit was witnessing at that time have continued in their course. At the same time, however, the "natural wine" movement has entered the mainstream and continues to grow and find advocates. Thus, the dated quality of some of the observations and remarks only serves to add power to their prescience. Did I mention the characters? This book is packed with memorable figures from all over the hexagon, such as you can only meet in France; passionate, crotchety, gracious, conniving, brilliant...they live on in the reader's mind, long after the book has been closed
If you'll forgive the egregious insertion of a literary reference, allow me to posit that Kermit's wine philosophy contains something of Hemingway's remark about writing "one true sentence"; the producers he favors write "the truest sentence" they know. And unlike many of Papa's writings, they are always worth reading.
"Adventures on the Wine Route" is not a rose-tinted look at France and its wine producers--Kermit is extremely critical of many things, and it is a testament to his writing ability that the reader hangs on every word, cringing along with him when he goes to Chablis, or witnesses a favored producer cut corners in the name of "progress". Though it is tempting to view the book as an anti-globalization tract _avant la lettre_, it is really much more than that; Lynch has spent forty years importing French and Italian wines into the heart of California wine country, he is hardly an _anti-mondialiste_! What he does do is advocate passionately for natural wines, made true to their conditions, their terroir. This book was published in 1988; many of the devastating trends that Kermit was witnessing at that time have continued in their course. At the same time, however, the "natural wine" movement has entered the mainstream and continues to grow and find advocates. Thus, the dated quality of some of the observations and remarks only serves to add power to their prescience. Did I mention the characters? This book is packed with memorable figures from all over the hexagon, such as you can only meet in France; passionate, crotchety, gracious, conniving, brilliant...they live on in the reader's mind, long after the book has been closed
If you'll forgive the egregious insertion of a literary reference, allow me to posit that Kermit's wine philosophy contains something of Hemingway's remark about writing "one true sentence"; the producers he favors write "the truest sentence" they know. And unlike many of Papa's writings, they are always worth reading.
May 6, 2018
I had high hopes for this book - a favorite topic, region, and person from my time in Berkeley.
However, it was written in the 1970s and so a lot of the experiences feel dated (e.g., cracking open a 1950 bottle of whatever seemed like no big deal, but today that seems exotic / rotten).
Also, it is a lot more fun to talk about wine when drinking wine, rather than read about someone else drinking wine (often too much).
Book totally lacks pictures, charts, or maps, which would have been useful.
Kermit's thesis is that buying from small growers is best, and refrigerating upon delivery. Also, the year doesn't matter as much as the approach or conditions at that particular winery. And then he repeats ad nauseum.
However, it was written in the 1970s and so a lot of the experiences feel dated (e.g., cracking open a 1950 bottle of whatever seemed like no big deal, but today that seems exotic / rotten).
Also, it is a lot more fun to talk about wine when drinking wine, rather than read about someone else drinking wine (often too much).
Book totally lacks pictures, charts, or maps, which would have been useful.
Kermit's thesis is that buying from small growers is best, and refrigerating upon delivery. Also, the year doesn't matter as much as the approach or conditions at that particular winery. And then he repeats ad nauseum.
April 13, 2013
I always thought there was more to the appreciation of wine than what I knew (either I like it or I don't). This book didn't teach me how to appreciate it more, but it taught me that I had a lot to learn and that if I did learn, it would give me great pleasure. Anyway, I'm from Berkeley and had shopped a couple of times in the author's wineshop (years before I read the book).
October 25, 2018
Argh. Lynch was groundbreaking in his approach to importing certain French wines, and he continues to be a great cheerleader for the types of wines that need support, but this book is so riddled with his sexist attitudes that I couldn't keep going.
April 28, 2022
As a wine lover, travel lover, and someone who loves good writing, this one was perfect. I'd drank Kermit Lynch's wines before and loved them, and as many in the wine world, I knew him as an importer that's known for bringing in great quality wine at a great value. I didn't know much about his personal life, his views on the world and wine, or about him in general, but Adventures on the Wine Route provided a great insight into that. Whether it be the French landscape descriptions, the wine and French homecooked food, or his funny stories, I couldn't get enough.
For one, I love Rhone and Bandol wine, and it seems Lynch does as well. So hearing about his adventures through Gigondas, Chateauneuf du Pape, Hermitage, and Bandol was exciting and educational. While I haven't made my way into Burgundy yet (due to time and money), his descriptions and times in Burgundy were just as entertaining and informative. Then, you have his stories in the Loire, which were outright surprising and interesting... I had never heard of someone aging a Chenin Blanc for 40 years and it still being in its prime, but I guess, leave it up to Lynch to find those that can make that possible.
The food described here makes you wish you could have ate and drank at Domaine Tempier in the 70s and 80s. I have never read or heard such captivating descriptions of aioli, nor have I ever paid much attention to aioli, but this will do it. I haven't even had the chance to try Tempier's Bandol as much as I love the region's wine, but now I wish I could have just met Lulu Peyraud and ate her food.
This book also helped cement my views and opinions about wine as a whole that were previously developing. With wine, as with most things in life, I believe it should be sustainably produced with minimal if any manipulation. It should represent the place it comes from and the people who produce it. It should come from a place of honesty, transparency, and geniality. It should be taken just serious enough, but not too serious as to be snobby. Lynch believed in sustainable, genuine, and manipulated wine, even if only because he thought it produced the best quality and tasting wine. I saved a handful of quotes of the many, many times he goes on about how filtering, machine harvesting, and third-party bottling is bad and takes everything good out of wine.
Much of what he talked about at the time of writing in the late 80's, in terms of trends in wine and the way it had been heading, is still playing out today for better and worse. The overuse of new oak; an emphasis on super heavy, high alcohol, high tannin wines; convenient technologies and practices that compromise quality; and so on. During his years as an active wine importer in France, he seemed a rebel of sorts in terms of what was popular, but he didn't give in and continued on with his mission of finding and importing the wines he did. I would like to believe that has some sort of impact on the noticeable trend of going back to that style today and the handful of importers and producers that focus on these types of wines, and for that, I am grateful. Based on the book and his wines, Kermit Lynch is a genuine, wine-loving, funk of a guy.
Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:
"When the public taste changes away from size to aroma and flavor as the most important criteria, we will all be drinking finer wine." Pg 25
"Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull.
People talk about the mystery of wine, yet most don’t want anything to do with
mystery. They want it all there in one sniff, one taste. If you keep an open mind and
take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover." - Pg 27.
"Such judgments are far from a serious appreciation of fine wine. I do not care whose vintage chart
you choose, you could turn it sideways and upside down and it would still be no less helpful as a guide to buying a good bottle of wine. Vintage charts are the worst kind of generalization; great wine is the contradiction of generalization." - Pg 45
"Today’s mentality is different. The motivating instinct is different. Progress is no
longer measured by quality; it is measured by security and facility." Pg 73
"It is flushed with a
pitcher of water which one then refills for the next visitor. Going to the loo in the
Château de l’Hospital is more of an event than we in the twentieth century are
accustomed to." Pg 92
"What a wonderful place for a wine merchant to retire, surrounded by vines, olive and fruit trees, wild
herbs, ruins of the medieval fortified city on the hillside, and a population of only
750 with whom to share it all." Pg 189 (Referring to the city of Gigondas)
"A glass or two for warmth while the pot simmers and we poke at the coals … a glass or two in the pot of course … Hand over that corkscrew, will you; we’ve drained the bottle and dinner’s just ready."
Pg 190
" Once you start throwing chemical fertilizers into the soil to increase production, chemical treatments onto the vines to kill pests, and yet others into the wine itself to stabilize it, you change the quality and personality of what comes out through the vine into the grape and ultimately into your wineglass. That fundamental expression of soil and fruit is distorted. Chemicals increase production, they protect the wine from nature’s quirks, but they also muck up the elemental statement that wine is capable of making." Pg 290
"The D-981 north from Cluny to Chagny is a little-traveled two-lane route which
traverses idyllic farmland populated by the handsomest cows outside Switzerland,
massive white beasts who munch the luxurious green herbage with an air of single-
minded connoisseurship." Pg 271
"I always take a deep breath when I enter Burgundy. It is the most difficult wine to
buy and its winemakers the most difficult to deal with. They are never happy. There
is always too much rain or not enough, too much sun (rare, but I have heard the
complaint) or not enough. I want to buy too much of one growth and not enough
of another. I want to ship too soon or not soon enough, pay too early (rare, but I
have heard the complaint) or too late. I want more wine than last year, or less. Or I
arrive to taste when they should be out pruning their vines, and so on and on and
on. It must be their horrid climate, rain, hail, fog, thunder, and lightning, frosts and snow, that makes them so ornery." Pg 284
For one, I love Rhone and Bandol wine, and it seems Lynch does as well. So hearing about his adventures through Gigondas, Chateauneuf du Pape, Hermitage, and Bandol was exciting and educational. While I haven't made my way into Burgundy yet (due to time and money), his descriptions and times in Burgundy were just as entertaining and informative. Then, you have his stories in the Loire, which were outright surprising and interesting... I had never heard of someone aging a Chenin Blanc for 40 years and it still being in its prime, but I guess, leave it up to Lynch to find those that can make that possible.
The food described here makes you wish you could have ate and drank at Domaine Tempier in the 70s and 80s. I have never read or heard such captivating descriptions of aioli, nor have I ever paid much attention to aioli, but this will do it. I haven't even had the chance to try Tempier's Bandol as much as I love the region's wine, but now I wish I could have just met Lulu Peyraud and ate her food.
This book also helped cement my views and opinions about wine as a whole that were previously developing. With wine, as with most things in life, I believe it should be sustainably produced with minimal if any manipulation. It should represent the place it comes from and the people who produce it. It should come from a place of honesty, transparency, and geniality. It should be taken just serious enough, but not too serious as to be snobby. Lynch believed in sustainable, genuine, and manipulated wine, even if only because he thought it produced the best quality and tasting wine. I saved a handful of quotes of the many, many times he goes on about how filtering, machine harvesting, and third-party bottling is bad and takes everything good out of wine.
Much of what he talked about at the time of writing in the late 80's, in terms of trends in wine and the way it had been heading, is still playing out today for better and worse. The overuse of new oak; an emphasis on super heavy, high alcohol, high tannin wines; convenient technologies and practices that compromise quality; and so on. During his years as an active wine importer in France, he seemed a rebel of sorts in terms of what was popular, but he didn't give in and continued on with his mission of finding and importing the wines he did. I would like to believe that has some sort of impact on the noticeable trend of going back to that style today and the handful of importers and producers that focus on these types of wines, and for that, I am grateful. Based on the book and his wines, Kermit Lynch is a genuine, wine-loving, funk of a guy.
Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:
"When the public taste changes away from size to aroma and flavor as the most important criteria, we will all be drinking finer wine." Pg 25
"Wine is, above all, pleasure. Those who would make it ponderous make it dull.
People talk about the mystery of wine, yet most don’t want anything to do with
mystery. They want it all there in one sniff, one taste. If you keep an open mind and
take each wine on its own terms, there is a world of magic to discover." - Pg 27.
"Such judgments are far from a serious appreciation of fine wine. I do not care whose vintage chart
you choose, you could turn it sideways and upside down and it would still be no less helpful as a guide to buying a good bottle of wine. Vintage charts are the worst kind of generalization; great wine is the contradiction of generalization." - Pg 45
"Today’s mentality is different. The motivating instinct is different. Progress is no
longer measured by quality; it is measured by security and facility." Pg 73
"It is flushed with a
pitcher of water which one then refills for the next visitor. Going to the loo in the
Château de l’Hospital is more of an event than we in the twentieth century are
accustomed to." Pg 92
"What a wonderful place for a wine merchant to retire, surrounded by vines, olive and fruit trees, wild
herbs, ruins of the medieval fortified city on the hillside, and a population of only
750 with whom to share it all." Pg 189 (Referring to the city of Gigondas)
"A glass or two for warmth while the pot simmers and we poke at the coals … a glass or two in the pot of course … Hand over that corkscrew, will you; we’ve drained the bottle and dinner’s just ready."
Pg 190
" Once you start throwing chemical fertilizers into the soil to increase production, chemical treatments onto the vines to kill pests, and yet others into the wine itself to stabilize it, you change the quality and personality of what comes out through the vine into the grape and ultimately into your wineglass. That fundamental expression of soil and fruit is distorted. Chemicals increase production, they protect the wine from nature’s quirks, but they also muck up the elemental statement that wine is capable of making." Pg 290
"The D-981 north from Cluny to Chagny is a little-traveled two-lane route which
traverses idyllic farmland populated by the handsomest cows outside Switzerland,
massive white beasts who munch the luxurious green herbage with an air of single-
minded connoisseurship." Pg 271
"I always take a deep breath when I enter Burgundy. It is the most difficult wine to
buy and its winemakers the most difficult to deal with. They are never happy. There
is always too much rain or not enough, too much sun (rare, but I have heard the
complaint) or not enough. I want to buy too much of one growth and not enough
of another. I want to ship too soon or not soon enough, pay too early (rare, but I
have heard the complaint) or too late. I want more wine than last year, or less. Or I
arrive to taste when they should be out pruning their vines, and so on and on and
on. It must be their horrid climate, rain, hail, fog, thunder, and lightning, frosts and snow, that makes them so ornery." Pg 284
August 11, 2025
It’s a great account of Mr Lynch his adventures in France tasting and buying wine. As someone who visites France often it’s at times still very recognizable and hilarious at the same time al to read about Mr Lynch his loves and struggles with French winemakers.
This book definitely inspired me to taste differently and take an even more in depth approach to examine the wines I drink.
However, reading the updated 2013 edition, it did leave me with a bit of a sour aftertaste (and therefore not a 5 star rating) as Mr Lynch for my taste is using the book a bit too much to flatter his own expertise (yes, for which I read the book) and as a personal settlement with a few wine makers he’s fallen out of partnership with. That’s a bit too unbecoming for me.
This book definitely inspired me to taste differently and take an even more in depth approach to examine the wines I drink.
However, reading the updated 2013 edition, it did leave me with a bit of a sour aftertaste (and therefore not a 5 star rating) as Mr Lynch for my taste is using the book a bit too much to flatter his own expertise (yes, for which I read the book) and as a personal settlement with a few wine makers he’s fallen out of partnership with. That’s a bit too unbecoming for me.
October 27, 2022
Snark 💅 and strong opinions 🥵 are what make a good industry book 📕 but they only ever work if you agree with the author and if they are reasonably successful 📈 (no one wants to hear a sore loser🙄.) I guess that’s why I enjoyed the this book. I didn’t care for the lists of grapes 🍇 regions 🇫🇷 etc, but I completely understood 🤓 his curmudgeon railings 🪧 against the changing of the tides 🏝 and ‘modernization’ 🤳of wine making and agricultural 🧑🌾 practices. Kermit 🐸 is no Luddite though was surprisingly clear eyed 👁 about the factors driving 🚘 the changes. The book also really conveyed the allure of wine 🍷 making. There is something beyond the sterilizing science 🧬 of the oenologist, things we really don’t understand something hard to convey in writing 🖊 , but deeply human 🙆♂️.
March 10, 2023
I read this 10 years ago and loved it. Reading it again as i know more about wine? Sublime. It is one of the best wine memoirs of all time. Engrossing stories about different wine makers and important information about the differences in the appellations with snarky commentary thrown in, this is a delightful read. The 25th anniversary edition also provides context about how the wine world is ever evolving.
December 17, 2023
Exceptional fun, strong opinions, and a great catalyst to explore the wonders of France.
June 13, 2025
such a fun read!
September 16, 2023
So interesting! Really learned a lot about wine making and wine purchasing.
Read
August 1, 2020I like France, and I like wine, and I specifically like all of the wines I've tried that Kermit Lynch has imported. That said, reading about the heroically good French vintages of the 70s and 80s isn't particularly compelling here in 2020, so I am going to give the rest of this one a pass. Just not in the mood.
June 1, 2025
Great book!
March 11, 2023
“Wine’s pleasures may be transitory in the sense that the wine is consumed, but the memory of it can endure.”
February 4, 2021
This is a gorgeous, lyrical venture into French wines, regions, and personalities--it's full of emotion, observation, and sensory details, as well as a sense of humor and the frustration towards wine traditions fading and the integrity of production degrading. The sentences are finely tuned, each word chosen for tone and nuance, each scene sublime in its own way. Even the more irascible characters are lovingly portrayed--and indeed, this work is one of love: love of wine, love of words, love of the interaction with those who tempt, tame, or wrestle wine into being, and love of the opportunity to combine everything into a sharable experience.
I was sad when this book ended (a rarity these days) and even more disappointed to see that Lynch does not have volumes upon volumes about his adventures in wine. Though the book was written decades ago, it creates a snapshot in time, elevates great wines and vintners to immortality, and allows the reader to be genuinely enthused about reading more, learning more, and tasting more.
In short, I loved this book from start to finish and every word in between.
I was sad when this book ended (a rarity these days) and even more disappointed to see that Lynch does not have volumes upon volumes about his adventures in wine. Though the book was written decades ago, it creates a snapshot in time, elevates great wines and vintners to immortality, and allows the reader to be genuinely enthused about reading more, learning more, and tasting more.
In short, I loved this book from start to finish and every word in between.
January 14, 2022
Overall, this one was a bit too name-heavy (names of winemakers, vineyards, regions) for a novice wine enthusiast like me- but it was joyfully atmospheric at times & I definitely learned a few things about winemaking!
Lynch has a clear appreciation for wine and knows an interesting bottle when he tastes it, but acknowledges how his thinking can sound like an old man complaining about the “good old days.” I honestly found the afterword, written 25 years later, to be the most interesting- Lynch prefers a low-intervention wine but avoids dogmatism, finding a middle way between the big-name vineyards, and the natural wines taking up an increasing share of the market today.
Lynch has a clear appreciation for wine and knows an interesting bottle when he tastes it, but acknowledges how his thinking can sound like an old man complaining about the “good old days.” I honestly found the afterword, written 25 years later, to be the most interesting- Lynch prefers a low-intervention wine but avoids dogmatism, finding a middle way between the big-name vineyards, and the natural wines taking up an increasing share of the market today.
February 11, 2025
THE book about travelling through France as a wine-importer of the 1980's, including many wonderfully frank stories of the vintners & winemakers and their local produce.
Holds up so astonishingly well, that I often forgot what year it was written in.
Holds up so astonishingly well, that I often forgot what year it was written in.
February 19, 2013
You only need one book about French wine and this is it.
September 1, 2016
This was a interesting but slightly dated way to learn about most of important French wine regions. I enjoyed it.
March 13, 2024
“Rejecting a wine because it is not big enough is like rejecting a book because it is not long enough, or a piece of music because it is not loud enough.”
I will definitely be giving this a reread with a highlighter in hand. I want to mark this great read up so I can go back and easily reference Kermit’s quirks and strong opinions.
As a lover of wine this was such a fun read. Kermit Lynch is a well known importer of “authentic wines that express their terroir.” In this book, Kermit takes the reader along on his buying trip through France, highlighting some of his favorite regions and winemakers as well as his distastes.
I agreed with a lot of Kermit’s opinions, especially that of a big wine doesn’t mean a better wine. It was also wild to read that he would specifically have vignerons mark barrels and foudres with his initials to ensure they bottle wines for his import without filtration if they normally would filter before bottling.
This book was entertaining, educational and really made me think about my own opinions on what makes a wine the best. To Kermit (and me) the best wine is what pairs best with what’s in front of you. I’d love to find out if any of his opinions have changed over the years since this book was published in 1988. One thing I disagree with Kermit on is that I do not think Beaujolais is a one night stand- she can indeed be a civilized society lady.
Rating 4.5/5 ⭐️
Wine Pairing - Domaine Tempier 🍇
I figured this wouldn’t be a difficult book to pick a wine pairing. With each chapter, each new region discussed, I found myself wanting to choose a wine from that region. While reading about his time in Provence it became blatantly obvious the only choice would have to be Domaine Tempier. One could tell from his description of his time with the Peyraud family and his time falling in love with their rouge and rose of Mourvèdre that they were definitely some of his favorite. It just so happens that Domaine Tempier is one of my all time favorite rosés. Domaine Tempier’s rouge consists of mostly Mourvèdre with a Grenache and Cinsault. It is full bodied, rich in purple and black fruit, with herbaceous and gamey notes. Their rosé is a blend of those same grapes but with the shorter time in contact with its thicker skins, their rosé is a refreshing wine with great complexity and intense flavors of peach, strawberry and Provençal herbs.
I will definitely be giving this a reread with a highlighter in hand. I want to mark this great read up so I can go back and easily reference Kermit’s quirks and strong opinions.
As a lover of wine this was such a fun read. Kermit Lynch is a well known importer of “authentic wines that express their terroir.” In this book, Kermit takes the reader along on his buying trip through France, highlighting some of his favorite regions and winemakers as well as his distastes.
I agreed with a lot of Kermit’s opinions, especially that of a big wine doesn’t mean a better wine. It was also wild to read that he would specifically have vignerons mark barrels and foudres with his initials to ensure they bottle wines for his import without filtration if they normally would filter before bottling.
This book was entertaining, educational and really made me think about my own opinions on what makes a wine the best. To Kermit (and me) the best wine is what pairs best with what’s in front of you. I’d love to find out if any of his opinions have changed over the years since this book was published in 1988. One thing I disagree with Kermit on is that I do not think Beaujolais is a one night stand- she can indeed be a civilized society lady.
Rating 4.5/5 ⭐️
Wine Pairing - Domaine Tempier 🍇
I figured this wouldn’t be a difficult book to pick a wine pairing. With each chapter, each new region discussed, I found myself wanting to choose a wine from that region. While reading about his time in Provence it became blatantly obvious the only choice would have to be Domaine Tempier. One could tell from his description of his time with the Peyraud family and his time falling in love with their rouge and rose of Mourvèdre that they were definitely some of his favorite. It just so happens that Domaine Tempier is one of my all time favorite rosés. Domaine Tempier’s rouge consists of mostly Mourvèdre with a Grenache and Cinsault. It is full bodied, rich in purple and black fruit, with herbaceous and gamey notes. Their rosé is a blend of those same grapes but with the shorter time in contact with its thicker skins, their rosé is a refreshing wine with great complexity and intense flavors of peach, strawberry and Provençal herbs.
June 13, 2021
I was brought to this book from a NY Times book review podcast that recounted some of the great books on travel and wine. It was an interesting account, and I am inspired to become more sophisticated in wine consumption. However, I am dubious that many readers could relate at all to the terminology and the subtleties of this account.
Written about travels in the mid 1980s, much of the book concerns the rapid changes the author perceives about wine making in the various regions of France. There is an unapologetic and repeated claim that wine making at this time was regressing from a grand tradition of yore. Good wine cannot be made except by grizzled craftsmen who honor tradition and eschew changes. Great wine can only derive from orchards that have low yields, and most all of the labor must be by hand. There is a grudging possibility that despite the regression, the overall quality of wine is somewhat better than in the past. However, the improvement is debatable, and it is achieved at virtually eliminating the potential for greatness.
With such a pessimistic vantage, how is one to account for wine of the present, 35 years hence? The only possible sense is that the days of great wine making must be extinct, and today's connoisseur's
can only read about the fabled past. And this sorry state is for the elite! The rest of us are to be pitied, indeed. At the end of the book is a paragraph that includes advice about drinking a case of one wine, and then another, and...at some point becoming enlightened into the subtleties that result in a miraculous wine drinking experience. He says that wine is living art, but unlike other art, it does not require genius to conceive; only the humble farmer, dutiful to tradition, detail, and craft.
I am inspired towards a more sophisticated approach to something I enjoy, but I very much doubt I have enough ambition to do the work to achieve that improved sophistication, especially when the wine making world has all gone to hell.
Written about travels in the mid 1980s, much of the book concerns the rapid changes the author perceives about wine making in the various regions of France. There is an unapologetic and repeated claim that wine making at this time was regressing from a grand tradition of yore. Good wine cannot be made except by grizzled craftsmen who honor tradition and eschew changes. Great wine can only derive from orchards that have low yields, and most all of the labor must be by hand. There is a grudging possibility that despite the regression, the overall quality of wine is somewhat better than in the past. However, the improvement is debatable, and it is achieved at virtually eliminating the potential for greatness.
With such a pessimistic vantage, how is one to account for wine of the present, 35 years hence? The only possible sense is that the days of great wine making must be extinct, and today's connoisseur's
can only read about the fabled past. And this sorry state is for the elite! The rest of us are to be pitied, indeed. At the end of the book is a paragraph that includes advice about drinking a case of one wine, and then another, and...at some point becoming enlightened into the subtleties that result in a miraculous wine drinking experience. He says that wine is living art, but unlike other art, it does not require genius to conceive; only the humble farmer, dutiful to tradition, detail, and craft.
I am inspired towards a more sophisticated approach to something I enjoy, but I very much doubt I have enough ambition to do the work to achieve that improved sophistication, especially when the wine making world has all gone to hell.
February 28, 2023
Ah, the irony of assigning a rating to a (very good, funny, well-written) book about the perils of relying on wine ratings and how that very system rests on the false premise of situational irrelevancy and drives mediocrity. A delightful book, even with the snark, and still fresh after more than three decades in print. But, boy does it make you want to rush out and try more bottles than the budget would ever permit.
***
"But then of course Cassis tastes better at Cassis! Debussy sounds better after a walk through the foggy, puddled streets of late-night Paris. You are in the midst of the atmosphere that created it. The wine is not different, the music is not different. You are."
***
"Is the Gautiere vin de pays better than the Chambertin? It depends on which Chambertin, does it not? The Gautiere is delicious and it has soul, while many bottles labeled Chambertin have no deliciousness, no soul, and precious little Chambertin. But what a question: Is it better than Chambertin? 'Better for what?' is the only proper reply."
***
"Others have made beautiful Pinot Noirs, but none arouse the passions like a true Burgundy. And no other wine seems so French. California has produced some remarkable bottles, but California Pinot Noir is to Burgundy what the Empire State Building is to the Notre-Dame."
***
"From behind the sales counter I see firsthand how people buy red Burgundy, and I find some of the tactics puzzling.
When I was growing up in California during the fifties, automobiles were the indicators of income and status. If you could afford a new one every year, you bought one. If you could afford a Pontiac, you did not buy a Chevy. If you could afford a Buick, you were not in a Pontiac. And if your pocketbook permitted, you drove a Cadillac, because it was top of the line, what people aimed for. Red Burgundy is not like that. Even if one can afford Chambertin every night, that would be wrong-headed and self-defeating because of other pleasures missed."
***
"But then of course Cassis tastes better at Cassis! Debussy sounds better after a walk through the foggy, puddled streets of late-night Paris. You are in the midst of the atmosphere that created it. The wine is not different, the music is not different. You are."
***
"Is the Gautiere vin de pays better than the Chambertin? It depends on which Chambertin, does it not? The Gautiere is delicious and it has soul, while many bottles labeled Chambertin have no deliciousness, no soul, and precious little Chambertin. But what a question: Is it better than Chambertin? 'Better for what?' is the only proper reply."
***
"Others have made beautiful Pinot Noirs, but none arouse the passions like a true Burgundy. And no other wine seems so French. California has produced some remarkable bottles, but California Pinot Noir is to Burgundy what the Empire State Building is to the Notre-Dame."
***
"From behind the sales counter I see firsthand how people buy red Burgundy, and I find some of the tactics puzzling.
When I was growing up in California during the fifties, automobiles were the indicators of income and status. If you could afford a new one every year, you bought one. If you could afford a Pontiac, you did not buy a Chevy. If you could afford a Buick, you were not in a Pontiac. And if your pocketbook permitted, you drove a Cadillac, because it was top of the line, what people aimed for. Red Burgundy is not like that. Even if one can afford Chambertin every night, that would be wrong-headed and self-defeating because of other pleasures missed."
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