Tasting the Good Life Wine Tourism in the Napa Valley [Paperback]

Five million visitors a year travel to California's Napa Valley to experience the good life: to taste fine wines, eat fine food, and immerse themselves in other sophisticated pleasures while surrounded by bucolic beauty. Tourism is the worlds largest employer, and tourists today want to experience the world through all five senses. Tasting the Good Life tells the story of Napa tourism through the words of the tourists who visit and the men and women who provide the products and services they rely on. The stories of 17 peoplefrom winemaker to vineyard manager, from celebrity chef to wait staff, from hot air balloonist to masseuseprovide extraordinary insight into this new form of tourism and its impact on an iconic American place.

I just finished it, and am recommending it to all our friends who are interested in wine. It's a wonderful bookI learned a lot. It has everything: an interesting subject, broadly treated; good design and good editing; a sense of humor; smoothly written oral histories by pros. And, best of all, the Gmelches have written a book with intellectual heft that's accessible to the general reader.This ethnography is a winner. Written by Napa Valley insiders George and Sharon Gmelch, it reveals both sides of the renowned wine tourism industry, paying attention to the visitors and to the voices of key local people. Tourism scholars and wine and food tourists alike will find it enlightening.

Introduction: Tasting the Good Life
1. The Napa Valley--a Brief History
2. The Tourism of Taste
3. Consuming Place: Napa's Culinary Terroir
4. From Vine to Wine
Vineyard Foreman: Juan Martinez
Vineyard Manager: Jim Lincoln
Winemaker: Pam Starr
5. Touring and Tasting
Wine Educator: Ellen Flora
Tasting Room Consultant: Craig Root
Tasting Room Server: Jim McCullough
Salonnier: Shawn LaRue
Wine Tour Guide: DolÃ