Rating: 
Summary: A Toast To A Tale of Two Valleys!
Review: A Tale of Two Valleys by Alan Deutschman makes one of my favorite vacation spots, Nappa & Sonoma come to life! I feel I have come to know the people, the history and the inside scoop for the battle for the good life! This up close peek into the secrets of wine country reads like a novel! I loved it!
Rating: 
Summary: Melrose Place meets the Wine Country
Review: Deutschman has attempted to make Sonoma and Napa Valleys a tale similar to the television series Melrose Place. This is a poorly written silly waiste of time.
Rating:
Summary: Bacchanalian Excesses
Review: Deutschman's book artfully chronicles the misadventures of "typical" Northern Californians in their native habitat. They're all here: the iconoclastic hippies, annoying activists, groovy corporate dropouts, disgustingly rich tech geeks, tyrannically earnest organic farmers and insufferable oenophiles. He pulls back the curtain on these spoiled, pampered, pompous, self-indulgent Northern Californians and their -OK, I'll admit it-utterly charmed, fascinating lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: For me this was a real page turner. I've been there, done that Napa-Sonoma thang. True to life. Deutschman has my vote.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, to be the "Kato Kaelin of the wine country"
Review: I picked up this book because the cover summary sounded so intriguing: A look at neighboring valleys whose residents, during the weekend, are the perfect hosts "smiling upon their guests," but, during the week, feud like the Hatfields and McCoys." Deutschman had a chance to see this change as house guest to some of the richest residents in Napa. The book, however, was a disappointment to me. Any transformation in behavior between the weekend and the rest of the week is not shown. Deutschman does, however, illustrate the differing attitudes and life styles between Napa and Sonoma. Napa is described as an elitist world of elegance and refinement as opposed to Sonoma, which is dominated by artistic intellectuals with a bohemian way of life.
Much of this book is dominated by Deutschman's arrogant snobbery. He seems to relish in describing luxuries he enjoys from the "braised leg and thigh and pan-roasted loin of Sonoma rabbit with artichoke pan sauce" and "a lavender-flavored crème brulee" he savored at a pricey Sonoma valley restaurant to lounging in a hot tub next to his friend's million dollar waterfall pool. He brings a "don't you wish you were me, aren't my friends better than yours?" feel to the book. Then he gives a bogus sense of guilt when he wonders what his Sonoma friends would think if they knew he was living the life of luxury in Napa. He also likes to use lots of SAT words like "gewurztraminer," "oenophile," "nonagenarian" (and every other type of "genarian") which only adds to the arrogant tone.
Much of the book is on Sonoma politics, especially movements to keep Napa sprawl from spreading to Sonoma not to mention efforts to allow chickens to roam through the plaza. His coverage of Napa is almost exclusively from the point of view of the richest elite. He drinks wine with the Screaming Eagle vintner who just saw one of her bottles sell for $500,000 at a wine auction (alas, Deutschman does not even let the reader know how the wine tastes) and watches the multi-million dollar house renovation of a friend (with the waterfall pool) only to learn his friend sold the house about a year later because he was afraid 9-11 would negatively effect real estate prices. His best description (without arrogant posturing) is on the "invisible velvet rope" in Napa: "Napa had the best wines but you couldn't buy them; it had the nation's best restaurant but you couldn't get a reservation there; and many of its loveliest chateaux and vineyards weren't open to the six million tourists who drove through every year to tastes wines and enjoy picnics" (92).
He demonstrates the differing attitudes between the two valleys (at least of those who are members of the elite groups in the valleys) by visiting people in their own environment. At worse, there are a few jokes aimed at the neighboring valley, but no direct, face-to-face feud I expected from reading the cover summary. The book never seems to come to a conclusion and ends abruptly with just some updates on Sonoma's political situation. Even his research of the glassy-winged sharp shooter that was supposed to destroy the California vineyards is left up in the air. He introduces the destructive pests at the beginning of the book and then returns to them at the end by asking an expert why the sharp shooters have not hurt the wine industry in California as was predicted. He gets no decisive answer so even this one little detail of the story is left incomplete. Not much is learned from this book except how great of an assignment Alan Deutschman had in the wine country.
Rating:
Summary: Stick to the magazine articles, Alan.
Review: I suggest a new subtitle: "Wine, Wealth, and Enough Filler to Stretch a Feature Article into a Book Deal"This book could be summer reading for a 5th grader, but if you've read Napa or East of Eden, you probably have higher expectations for the proffered subject matter. A Tale of Two Valleys will leave you wanting (particularly a refund).
Rating:
Summary: Stick to the magazine articles, Alan.
Review: I suggest a new subtitle: "Wine, Wealth, and Enough Filler to Stretch a Feature Article into a Book Deal" This book could be summer reading for a 5th grader, but if you've read Napa or East of Eden, you probably have higher expectations for the proffered subject matter. A Tale of Two Valleys will leave you wanting (particularly a refund).
Rating:
Summary: A sumptuous book.
Review: I've always loved visiting Napa and Sonoma valleys. They're on my short list of the most beautiful places in the world. Yes, they're a bit dusty and dry, but that's what you need for good wine. This book tells the story of the people who live in the valleys. I think some may think that the book is a bit gossipy, but that's only because it tries to really tell us about the people. They are quite human and very driven. The book tells us about the battles over the chickens the in the town square, the battles over the price of land, the fights over who builds the biggest home, and the list goes on. Along the way, Deutschman tells us little things about the people that keep the book real. Robert Mondavi, for instance, had a backache one year at the big charity auction and this kept him from playing to the crowd as he had in the past. This insight can only come from a truly sensitive writer who is committed to helping the readers see people as they are. We should be thankful that he's given us this chance to travel to wine country, if only for a few hours.
Rating: 
Summary: Reverse Snobbery
Review: In paragraph after paragraph, Deutschman lauds the people of Sonoma, whom he sees as "reg'lar folks," while excoriating people from Napa, most San Franciscans, and anybody who stops at a winery for wine tasting. This is reverse snobbery at its worst. I quickly tired of Deutschman's pronouncements of who's a phony, and who's pretentious. Napa and Sonoma have plenty to offer, Alan. Leave your sophomoric value judgements out of it, especially when you revel in being a guest at a rich out-of-towner's weekend retreat in Sonoma.
Rating:
Summary: Reverse Snobbery
Review: In paragraph after paragraph, Deutschman lauds the people of Sonoma, whom he sees as "reg'lar folks," while excoriating people from Napa, most San Franciscans, and anybody who stops at a winery for wine tasting. This is reverse snobbery at its worst. I quickly tired of Deutschman's pronouncements of who's a phony, and who's pretentious. Napa and Sonoma have plenty to offer, Alan. Leave your sophomoric value judgements out of it, especially when you revel in being a guest at a rich out-of-towner's weekend retreat in Sonoma.
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