Robert V. Camuto’s interest in wine turned into a passion when he moved to France and began digging into local soils and cellars. Corkscrewed recounts Camuto’s journey through France’s myriad regions—and how the journey brought about a profound change in everything he believed about wine.

 

The world of great wines was once dominated by great Bordeaux châteaux. As those châteaux were bought up by moguls and international corporations, the heart of French winemaking moved into the realm of small producers, whose wines reflect the stunning diversity of regional environment, soil, and culture—terroir. In this book we follow Camuto across France as he works harvesting grapes in Alsace, learns about wine and bombs in Corsica, and eats and drinks his way through the world’s greatest bacchanalia in Burgundy. Along the route he discovers a new generation of winemakers who have rejected chemicals, additives, and technologically altered wines. His book charts an odyssey into this new world of French wine, a world of biodynamic winegrowing, herbal treatments, lunar cycles, and grape varieties long ago dismissed as “difficult.”

 

A celebration of the diversity that makes French wine more than a mere commodity, Camuto’s work is a delightful look beyond the supermarket to the various flavors offered by the true vintners of France.
 

Robert V. Camuto has been a journalist for nearly thirty years. He is a regular contributor to the Wine Spectator and the Washington Post and his articles have appeared in many other magazines and newspapers. He and his family live in France.

“If you think you would enjoy having a conversation with a passionate French wine craftsman, dive into Robert Camuto’s delicious new book. I spend a good part of my life underground in France, and everything Camuto relates of his adventures rings true. And to those of you tiring of the varietal bandwagon, here’s an escape route.”—Kermit Lynch, wine importer and author of Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer's Tour of France