Conville & Walsh

What was Falstaff drinking when he called for more sack? What did they actually drink at Plato’s Symposium? Why does Bridget Jones drink Chardonnay? Why do we drink to forget (and why doesn’t it work)? What did Jesus turn water into, and what was the ‘blushful Hippocrene’? Were ‘tonic wines’ just, you know, an excuse? Why would you put lead into wine? Does terroir matter? And what exactly was it that the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him)
really forbade?

All these and many other intriguing questions will be answered in IS THIS BOTTLE CORKED? As much for bon vivants and those of us who just enjoy a good glass or two as for the committed oenophile, this book is guaranteed to provide readers with a ‘Yes, but did you know...’ for every time a cork is drawn.
Imagine a book which, with absolute authority, tells the reader what to drink with which dish; how to taste, store and categorize wines; how to invest in the finest vintages; how, above all, to impress their friends and business associates with their expertise. IS THIS BOTTLE CORKED? is not that book. This is the book which makes you say ‘Gosh, I never knew that’ at least once each page. Best read with a glass of a good second-growth Pomerol. Or perhaps a
suave Banyuls. Or maybe even a glass of St Anne’s Wineyard Rhubarb & Ginger Wine. We aren’t wine snobs here. (Is there anything they haven’t made wine from at one time or another? IS THIS BOTTLE CORKED will give you the answer.)

IS THIS BOTTLE CORKED? is for anyone who has ever raised a glass to their lips and wondered, however fleetingly, about where it has come from or what its story may be.