House of Mondavi (Julia Flynn Siler)
October 31st, 2007
Big-breasted women in peasant blouses, the smell of Chardonnay aging in oak barrels, tipsy men howling songs at the moon, grape skins bunching between the toes: Such are the images I expected to find within the pages of a book about the Mondavis, the most famous wine-making family in Southern California. What did I find? Family feuds played out as lengthy legal dramas, stock option summaries, board room battles, financial reports and… snore zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
File this under “business,” not biography. The later I like and the former I’d rather us as a coaster than subject my fragile, creative head to its numbing influence.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - Mediocre
Non-Fiction |