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Kevin Begos in Conversation with Dan Polsby, Vintage Berkeley–virtually
January 14, 2021 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm PST
discussing Tasting the Past: One Man’s Quest to Discover (and Drink!) the World’s Original Wines.
“Takes readers along on a journey to find the historical origins of wine. [Begos’s] story unfolds in a manner similar to the growth of ancient grapevines; rooted in a strong central narrative, side stories grow like tendrils, wrapping around and supporting each other, while clusters of vividly described wines emerge like ripe grapes.”–Science
To register and buy the book, please write dan@vintageberkeley.com.
“A vintner’s blend of science, history, travel, and tantalizing drink recommendations.”–Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Bo1tanist
Pull up a chair and pour yourself a glass of whatever Dan recommends, and enjoy a lively conversation between these wine experts!
In search of a mysterious wine he once tasted in a hotel room minibar, journalist Begos travels along the original wine routes–from the Caucasus Mountains, where wine grapes were first domesticated eight thousand years ago, crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, and then America–and unearths a whole world of forgotten grapes, each with distinctive tastes and aromas. We meet the scientists who are decoding the DNA of wine grapes, and the historians who are searching for ancient vineyards and the flavors cultivated there. Begos discovers wines that go far beyond the bottles of Chardonnay and Merlot found in most stores and restaurants, and he offers suggestions for wines that are at once ancient and new.
Kevin Begos is a former MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow and a former AP correspondent whose stories and research have appeared in major newspapers and other publications, including Scientific American, Harper’s, Salon, the Christian Science Monitor, the Guild of Sommeliers, USA Today, and the New York Times.