Recently I posted a review of the Wine Wherever iPhone App. The creators of the App ran across it and asked me if I would like a copy of one of the companion books to check out. Of course, I said yes and they sent me the Wine Wherever In California’s Mid-Coast and Inland Regions. It covers Monterey, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
If you read the App review you will see that it is very useful for finding wineries and giving you contact information and the ability to enter tasting notes. But what if you want to know something about a winery you have never visited? Or maybe you are looking in an area and want to decide which wineries to visit. The Wine Wherever book series will help you do that.
The book starts with a history of California winemaking and then a little information on the area covered and how the wineries were selected. Then they start on the first county and cover each winery with their history, philosophy of winemaking and stories about the winery and the people. There are also a couple of photographs taken at each winery.
The primary varietals made at the winery are listed along with tasting room hours and fees. Contact information is also provided along with even the GPS coordinates to navigate to the winery. Of course, if you also have the companion iPhone App, you can just use it to navigate to the winery. At the end of each chapter is a section for taking notes and a list of other wineries in the county and a section on side trips you may want to take when you are in the area.
The authors, Dahlynn and Ken McKowen, have personally visited every winery they write about. They send out a survey and then choose the wineries to visit based on the answers received. They don’t taste the wines at the wineries as they would never get the book finished, so don’t expect critiques on the wines. Although, it appears they have some friends who did sacrifice themselves to go along and taste the wines that were offered. The book is all about the winery, winery owners and winemakers. It is about the history and winemaking philosophy of the winery. The soul behind the wines you might say.
Dahlynn and Ken have previously published The Wine Oh! Guide to California’s Sierra Foothills and several non wine related books. Now they are writing guides for the companion Wine Wherever iPhone Apps. Wine Wherever In California’s Mid-Coast and Inland Regions is their first Wine Wherever book but they are working on the California’s Paso Robles Region due late summer and will continue on to the other regions from there.
On the Wine Wherever website they have additional material including the transcripts of their interviews with the winery owners and winemakers, recipes and links to wineries. Soon they will be publishing a newsletter which you may subscribe to. Overall, a real good resources when visiting a wine region so you can get an idea of which wineries you would like to visit.
