Book ID: CBB001320946

Soft Soil, Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California (2012)

unapi

Cinotto, Simone (Author)


New York University Press


Publication Date: 2012
Physical Details: ix + 267 pp.; ill.; maps; bibl.; index
Language: English

In this fresh, fascinating account of the ethnic origins of California wine, Simone Cinotto rewrites a century-old triumphalist story. He demonstrates that these Italian visionaries were not skilled winemakers transplanting an immemorial agricultural tradition, even if California did resemble the rolling Italian countryside of their native Piedmont. Instead, Cinotto argues that it was the wine-makers' access to social capital, or the ethnic and familial ties that bound them to their rich wine-growing heritage, and not financial leverage or direct enological experience, that enabled them to develop such a successful and influential wine business. Focusing on some of the most important names in wine history---particularly Pietro Carlo Rossi, Secondo Guasti, and the Gallos---he chronicles a story driven by ambition and creativity but realized in a complicated tangle of immigrant entrepreneurship, class struggle, racial inequality, and a new world of consumer culture. Skillfully blending regional, social, and immigration history, Soft Soil, Black Grapes takes us on an original journey into the cultural construction of ethnic economies and markets, the social dynamics of American race, and the fully transnational history of American wine.

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Reviewed By

Review Vaught, David (2013) Review of "Soft Soil, Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California". Journal of American History (p. 884). unapi

Review Choate, Mark I. (2014) Review of "Soft Soil, Black Grapes: The Birth of Italian Winemaking in California". American Historical Review (p. 193). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001320946/

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Authors & Contributors
Colgrove, Clinton Allen
John Hoenig
Bohling, Joseph
Wallach, Jennifer Jensen
Veit, Helen Zoe
Simpson, James
Concepts
Science and culture
Agriculture
Science and industry
Food industry and trade
Consumers and consumerism
Food science; food technology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
21st century
18th century
Places
United States
California (U.S.)
France
New York (U.S.)
Great Britain
Pacific Northwest (North America)
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