by Alan Deutschman
Books about Northern California's wine country tend to feel like literary treatments of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but journalist Deutschman digs a little deeper. Contrasting the luxurious Napa Valley and its more bohemian cousin Sonoma, Deutschman finds a struggle for the "soul of a place" and a cautionary example of destructive sprawl. Though he is dazzled by the platinum-plated Napa elegance of such vintners as Robert Mondavi (whose marketing panache helped create the region's mythology) and Jean Phillips, who at one point shares with him a $500,000 bottle of wine, Deutschman has a soft spot for a band of subversive merry pranksters in Sonoma who fight developers to preserve that valley's quirky way of life. This is an insightful examination of a long-running feud between the haves and the have-mores. (Broadway, $23.95)
BOTTOM LINE: Robust and full-bodied
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