| Thomas Jefferson on Wine | 
 enlarge | Author: John Hailman
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Category: Book
List Price: $38.00
Buy New: $20.00
You Save: $18.00 (47%)
New (23) Used (12) from $14.18
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 156444
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 457
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.6
ISBN: 157806841X
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.22
EAN: 9781578068418
ASIN: 157806841X
Publication Date: November 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
In Thomas Jefferson On Wine, John Hailman celebrates a founding father's talents as a wine connoisseur and provides unprecedented insight into a seldom explored facet of this great man. In both his personal and public lives, Jefferson wielded his considerable expertise and influence to change the views of his friends, fellow founding fathers, and the American public on the pleasures and refinements of wine. An international wine judge and former wine columnist for the Washington Post, Hailman discusses the particular wines Jefferson sought, the ways in which Jefferson's tastes developed, and how Jefferson became one of the great wine connoisseurs of the early American republic. His recommendations governed the president's table before and after his tenure there. Thomas Jefferson on Wine explores the third president's fascination with scores of wines from his student days at Williamsburg to his lengthy retirement years at Monticello, using mainly Jefferson's own vivid words from hundreds of immensely readable and surprisingly modern letters on the subject. Hailman examines Jefferson's five critical years in Paris, where he learned about fine wines at Europe's salons and dinner tables. The book uses excerpts from Jefferson's journals, as well as his letters to friends and wine merchants, whose descendants still produce the wines Jefferson enjoyed. Vivid contemporary accounts of dinners at the White House allow readers to vicariously experience the enjoyment of fine wine. The book concludes with an overview of the current restoration of the vineyards at Monticello and the new Monticello Wine Trail and its numerous world-class Virginia wineries. In Thomas Jefferson On Wine Hailman presents an absorbing and unique view of this towering historical figure.
|
| Customer Reviews:
First class wine in 1776 July 29, 2008
Good read. This book provided an historical perspective I had not been exposed to before. The insight provided as to the difficulties of shipment, payment, location of goods, etc. was unique. This book is something of a biography of Jefferson and an insight into life and commerce in the late 1700's
Gift not read by donor July 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Book purchased as gift for our son's birthday in September.
Book received in excellent condition in good time.
History by the glass June 14, 2008
What I was hoping for and got was a historical perspective on the man relative to the events of his time and how wine was viewed, served and distributed. In general the book is a great mix of all three although at times the inventory lists of wine in Jefferson's possession do not yield enough clues about him. Sometimes they are just lists. For those that want to try to at least purchase a little bit of history, the book is helpful in identifying French wineries that are still in existence from Jefferson's time. Some winery terms used to today are explained in the context of Jefferson's. The use of his letters to people are cool but sparse. Could have used more.
 THOMAS JEFFERSON ON WINE February 15, 2007
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book is super for anyone interested in wine-to know what was going on in wine in Jeffersons time-some European wines that we drink today but were surly different at that time.Well written as well
Jefferson the Connoisseur February 13, 2007
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Thomas Jefferson is so well known that it is difficult to find a book about him that offers new insight into his multi-faceted character. This book does: it presents Jefferson through his very discriminating taste in wine, which was so expert that his favorite French wines later became the great Classified Growths of Bordeaux and the premiere wines of Burgundy. He traveled through France, Germany, and Italy with the express purpose of selecting wines for Monticello, the house he had built in Virginia, capitalizing on an opportunity that came when he was appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the French court. When he was elected President he built the wine cellar for the White House and stocked it with his favorite imported wines. All this is to his credit, and provides further evidence of Jefferson's extensive learning, which went beyond books. But he never succeeded in his pet project, of planting a vineyard and cultivating at home the fine wines he enjoyed abroad. That was for later Virginians to do, and the author provides a tour map of the wineries that now surround Monticello, fulfilling the dream Jefferson himself failed to realize.
|
|
|
