Charles Sullivan s 1994 Napa Wine: A History, is the engaging story of the rise to prominence of what many believe to be the greatest winegrowing area in the Western Hemisphere. This new edition completes that picture, bringing to light more than a decade of dramatic changes and shifted norms visited upon the valley, from pholoxera-wasted vineyards to High Court-officiated territorial battles, told in a rousing, transportive narrative.

Picking up at 1817 with the movement of Spanish Missions into the San Francisco Bay Area, Sullivan wends his way through the Great Wine Boom of the late 19th century, the crippling effect of Prohibition, and Napa s rise out of its havoc to its eventual rivaling of Bordeaux in the Judgments of 1976 and 2006 as the great wine growing region in the world.

Published in cooperation with the Napa Valley Wine Library, scholarly attention is given to every detail. The author, called wine s head sleuth and the modern historian of wine in California, visited every historic sight in Napa, compiled hundreds of first-hand accounts from pivotal figures, and dug into original documents and periodicals. Included are historic maps, charts of vineyard ownership, and vintages from the 1880s to present.

This is a book for all wine lovers.

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