num_pages: 352
description: A professional booze writer whose life spins out of control tries to piece it back together by embarking upon an epic wine-fueled adventure that takes him to every corner of the U.S. Part vision quest part guidebook part journey into the bizarre tapestry of American life it will make you laugh make you cry and teach you a whole lot about wine. Former Playboy magazine nightlife columnist Dan Dunn has a made a career out of drinking. Yet this mans mana connoisseur of beer and whiskeyknew next to nothing about one of the major drinks enjoyed the world wine. When a fateful tasting experience coincided with a serious existential crisis Dunn decided to hit the road on a journey of discovery. To quench his thirst for knowledge (and be able to throw down with the experts) he would educate himself about the industry glass by glass from winery to winery in nearly every region in the United States. His bold 15000-mile road trip took Dunn from Sonoma California to Pawleys Island South Carolina where he twirled sniffed and sipped glass after glass of a vast array of wines with vintners savants and celebrities including Kurt Russell and The Most Interesting Man in the World Jonathan Goldsmith. Dunns mission was to transform himself from a heartbroken schlub who barely knew the difference between Merlot and Meritage into a confident connoisseur capable of wowing others simply by swirling some fermented grape juice around in his mouth and pronouncing it troubling yet brilliant. In American Wino  Dunn shares it allthe good the bad the sublime. As his wine knowledge grows and becomes more complex he shares it with the reader in the form of digestible actionable nuggets in each chapter. Its like a wine-tasting course at your local community college extension program only with more sex and less crushing despair. An intoxicating blend of travel writing memoir and booze journalism that pairs earthy humor with fine wine for hilarious and enlightening results it is the story of one mans journey to find himselfand everymans journey to better understand the true spirit of this divine elixir.
language: English
title: American Wino: A Tale of Reds, Whites, and One Man's Blues
publisher: Dey Street Books