Title: Vintage France
Description: An American couple fumbles their way through French wine country, and find themselves "adopted" by several local families who show them the true meaning of joie de vivre as they visit Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Sancerre, Bordeaux, Lyon and Paris.

America is fascinated by France—whether it is fashion, cosmetics, perfume, food, wine, or literature.  Vintage France heightens this fascination by offering the reader a truly unique and personal insight into several wine regions of France from the eager eyes of a first-time visitor.   The author discovers not only places and things, but more importantly, the people of France.  It is those people, with whom he laughed, cried, played and even worked, that make the essence of France come alive for the reader.

Each chapter anecdotally details an event or character from a specific French village or region, poking good-natured fun at the author's own foibles during his journeys, while at the same time exploring his marvel at the heartfelt welcome afforded by his newfound friends. 

There are gentle tidbits of history in this story—as the author stands in a thousand-year-old cathedral he reflects on kings and bullet holes. Even the landscape of the region inspires, delights and moves him— his first sight of the famous hill of Corton Charlemagne so overwhelms him, it leaves him utterly incapable of speech.  Possessing a diarist’s sense of detail, Tanner will make the readers own palate come alive as he describes in mouth-watering detail the sights, sounds and aromas of the sumptuous meals he shares with his wife and friends in France’s gastronomic and viticultural capitals. 

Vintage France will inspire.  It will cause the arm chair traveler want to experience France; it will make the seasoned traveler fondly recall past journeys, and wine enthusiasts will be fascinated at a first-time visitors inside look at some of France's winemakers.

“It is heartwarming for an American expatriate who has lived in France for over thirty years to read a book which absolutely shines with love and appreciation for France.  Tanner has discovered the most elusive yet lasting pleasure: a second home in a ‘foreign land’…Required reading not only for first time visitors to France but for all those who are gentle adventurers.”
–Becky Wasserman Hone

By vocation, Jim Tanner is a Minnesota attorney, but don't hold that against him. By avocation, Jim is a self-declared oenophile, traveler, and writer, and in his LBL ("life before law") he was a wine professional, a professional photographer, and a freelance writer. Long a Francophile, it was Jim's love of and curiosity about French wines that finally drew him to France and it's been a love affair ever since.  Stomping around French vineyards, cellars and villages as often as his schedule will allow, Jim laments that it is not nearly often enough to suit him—but then little short of permanent residence would. 

Jim's wine and France-related writing credits include articles in Franceway, Brandy Magazine, Tastingnews, Bonjour Paris and Journal Au Vin.   Jim lives in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife, Liz and their dachshund, Bo.
Places: Paris, France, Beaune, Sancerre, Lyon, Meursault, Pommard, Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny
Time periods: 2002