| Title | Godforsaken Grapes – A Slightly Tipsy Journey through the World of Strange, Obscure, and Underappreciated Wine |
| Author | Jason Wilson |
| Publisher | Abrams Press |
| Date | April, 2018 |
| ISBN | 9781419727580 (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 320 |
| Excerpts | Google Books Google Play (Audio) |
| Synopsis | A combination of travel memoir and epicurean adventure, Godforsaken Grapes is an entertaining love letter to wine. |
| New York Times – The Best Wine Books of 2018 |
About the author
Jason Wilson started his writing career as drink columnist for the Washington Post, published Boozehound – a travel and cocktail recipe book – in 2010, worked as beer columnist and dining critic, and after Godforsaken Grapes, also wrote a book a cider. Currently he has his own substack and posts for the New Wine Review.
- Spirits: A booze columnist says goodbye
- Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits (2010)
- The Cider Revival: Dispatches from the Orchard (2019)
- Every Day Drinking with Jason Wilson – A wide world of wine, spirits, travel, and culture.
- Jason Wilson | The New Wine Review
On Social Media
On Substack, Wilson revisits some of the stories told in Godforsaken Grapes.
- If you don’t like this, maybe you don’t really like wine? – 2021
- In Tough Times, Just Drink Lambrusco and Be Happy – 2022
- The Wines That Haunt Us – 2022
About the book
In Chapter Two, Château du Blah Blah Blah, Wilson reacts to an article that the Wine Advocate/Emporer Robert Parker posted online about the new generation of wine enthousiast’s.
“…they would have you believe some godforsaken grapes that, in hundreds and hundreds of years of viticulture, wine consumption, etc., have never gotten traction because they are rarely of interest (such as Trousseau, Savagnin, Grand Noir, Negrette, Lignan Blanc, Peloursin, Auban, Calet, Fongoneu and Blaufrankisch) can produce wines (in truth, rarely palatable unless lost in a larger blend) that consumers should be beating a path to buy and drink.
- Jason Wilson on his obsession with Godforsaken Grapes – The Buyer, 2018
The original Parker (rant) piece is no longer online but we find the same quote (and indignation) in a contemporary article
- Debating Robert Parker At His Invitation – Alder Yarrow, Vinography, 2014
Obviously, Wilson disagrees and shares with us his passion for the less familiar grapes.
There are nearly 1,400 wine grapes in the world, yet almost 80% of wine is made from 20 grapes.
His reference is the contemporary Wine Grapes guide.
In chapter one, he visits Domaine de Beudon with the Indiana Joneses of ampelography, Wine Grapes author José Vouillamoz, Jean Rosen, dit Petit Verdot, vice-président des Rencontres des cépages modestes, and Jean Luc Etievent. While Etievent is now retired and his non-profit Wine Mosaic discontinued, Vouillamoz and Rosen are still active. Like Old Vines these days perhaps, forgotten grapes were a much discussed topic at the time.
- www.josevouillamoz.com
- Rencontres des cépages modestes
- Jean Luc Etievent | Facebook
- Wine Mosaic will protect original wine grape varieties, say founders – Decanter, 2013
- Wine Mosaic: Saving rare grapes from extinction – by Simon Woolf, 2013
Book Reviews
- Godforsaken Grapes – book review by Tamlyn Currin – JancisRobinson.com, 2019 (subscription)
- Book Review: Godforsaken Grapes – Review by Isaac Baker, Terroirist, 2018
- Wine book: Godforsaken Grapes – Review by Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, 2023
| Read | January, 2025 |
| Format | Audio Book |