What is this woman doing on my blog? And where is Mr. Big?

And what a review it is. Here's the thing. When the bad reviews hit, and I am sure there will be, will I be girl enough to put them up here as well? I really don't know.

But the PW one is terrific though it does feel strange to get a stranger's take on the book and hear me compared (or at least my situation) to Carrie Bradshaw's. I mean, we have completely different senses of fashion.

But, it is exciting that this is the first review from the non-wine reading world and the first clue I have that my book works for us and the rest of the world. Have I really lucked out and made discourses on yeast and tannin sexy?

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*** In this entertaining oenological salvo, wine blogger and journalist Feiring makes an argument for wine authenticity through adherence to old techniques. She's against what she calls “Big Wine”—viticulture as business and technology—and blames the shrinking appreciation for hand-vinified, long-aged “Old World” wines (like the Barolo that eventually led to her career) on, among other things, the UC–Davis School of Enology and Viticulture and the wine writings of critic Robert M. Parker Jr. (of the book's title). But what sets her sprightly polemic apart is that her argument is pinned to a personal narrative of wine tours through Europe and California. Rounding out the Syrah-and-the-City parallels are several female characters who receive noms de vin like “Honey-Sugar” and the air-kissing “Skinny,” and most entertainingly of all, the author's Carrie-like relationships. Parker looms like Mr. Big over all Feiring's oenological relationships; they finally have a couple of phone dates that distill the differences between them down to quantifying (Parker) versus qualifying (Feiring). The author, who already has fans through her blog and other journalism, can count on new ones with this publication. (May) ****