‘Once you are bitten by the grape there is no known cure – and no redemption. You are hooked’. There is no one who can say this better than our long time friend – Tony Aspler. These are the first sentences of his new ebook – The Five Minute Wine Book.
Tony has provided us the entire collection of 90+ chapters that are humorous & easy-to-read chapters to post & share with you. Love these stories? Download the full ebook for about $5 from:
Every month we will post several Tony’s wine soaked stories – read them here, learn tidbits of trivia about wines & the wine world that will make you dangerous enough at any dinner party or download the entire book onto your tablet or Kindle to read when you have a glass of wine in hand. Tony has so many quick stories…so let’s start at the beginning with the first chapter aptly entitled…
Introduction
I have spent thirty-five years of my adult life chasing the grape around the world. I haven’t caught it yet and if I ever did I wouldn’t know what to do with it. But the journey, whether to the antipodes or down the QEW from Toronto to Niagara, has been one of infinite fascination with and respect for the men and women who can turn a perishable fruit into a beverage than can live for decades.
As a card-carrying member of Pack Rats Anonymous, I have kept everything I have ever written about wine. This volume is a selection of those writings that goes back to 1976 when I was working for the CBC in London. The first article I ever wrote was on the subject of champagne; it was commissioned by Robert Fulford, then editor of the late-lamented Saturday Night magazine. I didn’t include that one but you’ll find several pieces about champagne in these pages. Champagne (it’s tautology to say French Champagne) has played an integral part in my own story as the drink of both celebration and commiseration.
If my doctor told me I had to restrict myself to one wine for the rest of my life it would have to be champagne. I was introduced to the delights of the Champagne region by the man who taught me about wine – the late Gordon Bucklitsch who ran the Grant’s of St. James wine school in London in the 1970s. He wrote a book entitled, ‘School for Sommeliers.’ Not only was he my wine mentor but this Falstaffian character became the model for my detective in a series of wine murder mysteries I would write in the subsequent years – ‘Blood Is Thicker Than Beaujolais’, ‘The Beast of Barbaresco’, ‘Death on the Douro’ and the newly-finished, ‘Nightmare in Napa.’
As a wine evangelist, rather than a wine critic, my intention has always been to share with readers my consuming passion. If browsing these pages makes you pull a cork (or twist off a screw top) then I have done my job. I encourage you to read with a glass in your hand.
Cheers!
– Tony
Keep in touch with Tony & his travels on his web site www.tonyaspler.com or follow him on Twitter @tonyaspler
Five Minute Wine Book is published by Bev Editions at Smashwords
ISBN: 978-1-927789-39-1
Copyright 2014 Tony Aspler
Cover Image ©iStock.com/SteveGraham
Savvy Company has permission from Tony Aspler to post individual chapters of this ebook. Thanks Tony!