Christy Campbell: The Botanist and the Vintner

By JULIETTE ROSSANT I have not quite finished The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine was Saved for the World (New York: Algonquin, April 2005), which is already on some summer best reading lists, but I happened to meet the author Christy Campbell in town yesterday. Christy is on the first stop of a US book tour which includes: Seattle, Portland, Sonoma (and other California locations), New York, and Boston. During our one-on-one talk, Christy referred to his book as a "history story" and also a "tourism of the past," but I found it more of a wine-lover's Da Vinci Code -- no kidding. It struck me as a "historical detective story" and a compelling page-turner, full of terrific detail about Darwinian theory, French architecture, biology and of course wine. It is perfect both for wine connossieurs and the unschooled -- and it beats The Da Vinci Code hands down. Christy himself falls into the latter category of the unschooled: despite having traveled southern France as a child, speaking fair French, knowing some science, he knew very little about wine. "It is an excellent beginning, not to know much," he told me. (Besides, he added, the more he learned, the more he realized how little he knew.) "When I started pursuing it, I realized it is not about insects [aphids that attack grapevines] but scientists up against something they half understood, in a period I liked," he explained. Christy happened upon the story while digging about in the National Archives in Paris. He unraveled the tale of the aphid, called phylloxera, which slipped over America with its resistant vines to devastate the vineyards of 1860's France and then spread across Europe. The story follows the investigating commission. "The previous spring a brave little body of biological sleuths had formed, styling itself La Commission pour Combattre la Nouvelle Maladie de la Vigne" (p. 48), replete with magnifying glasses, frock coats, and top hats. Jules-Emile Planchon was the hero who hunted down the source of the pestilence. The discovery took Christy to Montpelier, France, to London where the writings of Missouri entomologist Charles Valentine Riley are housed in the National History Museum, to Roquemaure in the Rhone Valley, and across the Atlantic to Sonoma, California. "I spent a fortnight in Montpelier's beautiful library -- very formal and difficult -- and then UC Davis -- huge and welcoming, with the best collection on the subject." For Campbell, his books are a personal exploration, and it is a pleasure go along for the ride. The book has already won the Glenfiddich Prize for Best Drink Book of the Year. Try to catch him on tour this month -- or just read this terrific book. I can't wait to finish, even I know who dunnit. (Christy Campbell wrote two books previously, also on the 19th century: The Maharajah's Box: An Imperial Story of Conspiracy, Love and a Guru's Prophecy and Fenian Fire: The British Government's Plat to Assassinate Queen Victoria.) Other reviews: An Obsession With Food Shiraz The Seattle Times The Toledo Blade Previous articles: Kathleen Daelemans: Getting Thin and Loving Food! Aroma: Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel Tyler Florence: Eat This Book The Perfectionist by Rudolph Chelminski Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life Mother's Day Gift: Finding Betty Crocker The Sensual Language of Baklava: Diana Abu-Jaber Paula Deen & Friends Roland Mesnier's Dessert University Puerto Rico: Grand Cuisine of the Caribbean Don Pintabona: Shared Table Annabel Karmel: First Meals Nigella Lawson's Feast Cook Like a Kyrgyz Ozzi Dining Downunder and Bushfood Personal Favorites: The Chefs of Las Vegas Anne Willan: The Good Cook Gale Gand's short+sweet More Food from Alton Brown Manju Malhi's India With Passion SOS: Baking from the Heart Madhur Jaffrey: Our Lady of India, CBE Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs All Hail Alfred Portale Agassi's Star Palate: Celebrity Chefs Book links: Publisher Amazon.com Technorati Tags: chefs food restaurants cooking cookbook wine travel history --> back to superchefblog