Money, Taste, and Wine: Mike Veseth’s new Book for Wine Lovers

TACOMA, Wash. – In his new book, Money, Taste, and Wine: It’s Complicated!, Mike Veseth ’72 offers a fascinating rumination about an experience most of us have to face: choosing just the right bottle of wine.

Money, Taste, and Wine (Rowman & Littlefield; August 2015) is funny from the opening paragraph; it’s informative and surprising; and it gives valuable insights about the relationship between the human mind, the seductive vine, and the industry that counts on bringing the two together.

What is the biggest mistake most wine buyers make? Veseth, a best-selling author, writer of the award-winning The Wine Economist blog, and professor emeritus at the University of Puget Sound, answers. He advises shoppers on how it can be rectified. 

What kind of wine drinker are you? Yes, there are categories for this, too, even tests you can take. And knowing yourself is the first step to a happier relationship between your own money, taste, and wine, the book suggests.

Why is the best wine for an occasion sometimes a beer or cider? Veseth lets loose with truths that others might hesitate to suggest and analyses how these impact winemakers and sellers and the European growers who claim good wine as their birthright.

“If you’ve ever suspected that wine’s pricing is rigged, fume at stratospheric restaurant tariffs, or want to be amazed at how the revolution in global trade has affected your favorite drink, then look no further than this book,” writes William Bernstein, author of Masters of the World.

“A remarkable blend of research, history, and examples straight from the heart of a genuine explorer makes this book a must-read,” writes Evy Gozall, chief executive of Sababay Winery, Bali, Indonesia. “Mike skillfully walks his readers through the multifaceted relationship of money, taste, and wine and leads them to a smart, optimistic, and enjoyable conclusion.”

Veseth explains exactly what you’re getting with big-box wines and how the big-bag wines—24,000-liter bags packed in a shipping container—might serve you even better. He debunks the myth that a pricier wine is always a better wine, with proof straight from the pages of Wine Spectator, and explains why one wine might be excessively bitter to a “supertaster” and just right for a mere “taster.”

 

The well-traveled wine industry researcher and popular international speaker explain what makes champagne so special and why you might want to save $16 or more to buy something else sparkling that’s just as good. He questions wine’s identity crisis, looks down his nose at wine snobs and cheese bores, follows the money, surveys the restaurant war battleground, and imagines wines that even money cannot buy.

The love triangle of money, taste, and wine have a complicated relationship indeed, Veseth concludes. But even for this puzzle, the data-crunching, dream-invoking, professorial wine lover has an explanation.

“To paraphrase a famous soccer coach, wine isn’t like life; it is life, and life is complicated, so I guess wine must be complicated,” he writes at the book’s end. Luckily for us, there are minds like Veseth’s to help us get to the kernel of truth in the silo.

Mike Veseth is an economist specializing in global wine markets and an authority on globalization. He is editor of the award-winning blog The Wine Economist and author of a dozen books, including Wine Wars (2011), Extreme Wine (2013), and Globaloney (2005). Mike is a trustee, professor emeritus of international political economy, and 1972 alumnus of the University of Puget Sound. He’s currently working on his next book, Around the World in Eighty Wines, when he isn’t traveling around the world with his wife, speaking to wine industry groups, or looking for great wines and great wine stories.

To purchase a copy of Money, Taste, and Wine: It’s Complicated! visit amazon.com/Money-Taste-Wine-Its-Complicated/dp/1442234636

Press photos of Mike Veseth, and the book cover can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Photos on page: From top: Book cover; Mike Veseth; the glass of port wine, by Che

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