In honor of Pinot Noir Day, we’re brushing up on our favorite subject with stories from California to Oregon to Burgundy. Pour yourself a glass and settle into your favorite chair. Consider this your syllabus for sipping.
By Rex Pickett
Two friends, one wine-soaked road trip through Santa Barbara wine country, and an enduring devotion to Pinot Noir: If you know the film, you’ll love the book. The novel is funny, irreverent, and a must-read for anyone with strong feelings about what’s in their glass.
By Anna Maria Ponzi
Part memoir, part wine-country history, Anna Maria Ponzi’s story offers an intimate look at growing up in one of Oregon’s pioneering wine families. It’s a story of family, determination, and the rise of the Willamette Valley, with Pinot Noir running through it all.
By Brian Doyle
Spend a year in an Oregon vineyard with writer Brian Doyle as he follows the rhythms, characters, challenges, and occasional absurdities behind the pursuit of exceptional Pinot Noir. Warm, witty, and wonderfully observant, it’s less a textbook on winemaking than a love letter to the people and places behind the bottle.
By Maximillian Potter
Pinot Noir meets true crime. Potter takes readers to Burgundy and the legendary Romanée-Conti vineyard, where an extraordinary threat against its prized vines unfolds into a fascinating story of history, obsession, tradition, and one of the wine world’s strangest crimes.
Napa: The Story of an American Eden, The Far Side of Eden, and Napa at Last Light
For a deep dive closer to home, Conaway’s trilogy chronicles Napa Valley’s evolution over decades, capturing the ambition, personalities, conflicts, and growing pains that accompanied its transformation into one of the world’s most celebrated wine regions. Detailed, unflinching, and engrossing reading for anyone fascinated by the place behind the wines.
Book 1, Used: AbeBooks
By Elaine Chukan Brown
For those ready for the advanced course, this comprehensive guide travels region by region through California wine, exploring the places, people, climate, and history that shape what ends up in the glass. It’s also a wonderful way to better understand why our cool, windswept corner of Carneros is such a distinctive place to grow Pinot Noir.
