Book Review: The 8,000-Year-Old Story of the Wine Trade

It isn't often that an author suggests the bibliography is the best part of his book. But this is what Thomas Pellechia hints in his new work on wine history titled Wine: The 8,000-Year-Old Story of the Wine Trade. "This chronicle is my attempt to introduce you to what I have learned from others about the historical importance and influence of the wine trade. My task was to glean from the books I have read," Pellechia explains, "those areas of the wine story that pertain mostly to trade... I hope that by reading this book you will be spurred to dig deeper into other books, the ones that provide the complete and glorious history of wine. If you take the bait I promise that you will be richly rewarded, especially if you start your search with my bibliography."

It is good navigation advice. Pellechia's bibliography is a fine list of the volumes to be found in the library of a serious wine and history buff. However, Pellechia's text (his "gleaning") is an ambitious sprint through 8,000 years of history in a mere 200 pages, which leaves readers parched from its relentless pace and its dry style. Perhaps it would be more satisfying to sip leisurely from the bibliography instead.

But if taking wide strides through the history of wine as a commodity whets your whistle, then Pellechia's book is right for you. His approach is decidedly different from the myriad wine writers who discuss vintners, regions, comparisons, tastings, ratings and so forth. Pellecia focuses on the specifics of selling wine. "Wine merchants do the legwork," he writes. "They find the product, move it, store it, and get it to us. Depending upon the period of history, wine merchants sometimes accomplished these things against great cultural odds. Telling the wine story from the perspective of its commerce can lead us--if not to an understanding of caste, exploration, discovery, invention, climate, food, war, religion, and the endless human spirit, at least to marvel at it all."

One remarkable theme that emerges from this historical tracking of wine merchandising is how closely the sale of wine remains in lockstep with tax levies throughout the ages. It is almost as if the study of wine commerce is a parallel study of international tax law. Like any good story of intrigue, the lesson learned here is "Follow the money."

Wine: The 8,000-Year-Old Story of the Wine Trade
By Thomas Pellechia
Thunder's Mouth Press, 254 pages, $26