Steven Laine is a fiction writer with WSET III, FWS, IWS, SWS, CWS, and Champagne Academy credentials. For the 2020 harvest, Steven worked as a harvest cellarman for three months with the winemakers at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery in BC. His novels revolve around some aspect of wine.
In his previous novel, Dragonvine, Steven wrote about a young man, Carmine Cooper, that has been helping out in the family winery in Napa Valley, with the view of him taking over the winery and being the winemaker, along with a story of the history of a Chinese emperor and his search for an exilir of life, a drug cartel in San Francisco and much more.
Through all of Steven’s novels, he introduces the reader to wine terms, methods, history and more, giving the reader an education in wine. As an example, in his latest novel, Jupiter’s Blood, he mentions VQA, Vintner’s Quality Alliance, which is the regulatory agency in BC and Ontario dedicated to producing wines that typify grape varietal character and appellation of origin and the wines are all made from Canadian-grown grapes. You can learn quite a bit about wine by reading Steven’s novels. If you are relatively new to wine terminology, this will be quite helpful to you. As I am a seasoned wine writer, I knew most of the terms, so slowed the book down a little for me.
In, Jupiter’s Blood, an American wine expert, Dante Lombardi, is a Master of Wine and Master Sommelier, who runs a successful Michelin-starred restaurant in Napa Valley with his best friend has to come to terms with his friend’s suicide. He is then contacted by his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Claire Durant, to involve him with a new synthetic wine her company, Scarcity Incorporated, has produced Replivino that will soon come on the market. This synthetic wine can mimic famous iconic wines and be sold for a fraction of the price.
There are however complications when the methodology to make Replivino is stolen along with the disappearance of Dr. Durant. Dante with assistance from two members of Scarcity rushes across Europe, meeting other sommeliers, winemakers, and unsavoury characters trying to rescue Dr. Durant and the methodology, their “vino code”. Dante is also torn between the history and terroir associated with great wines and the commoditization of these wines through Replivino. What can he do?
Steven has a great imagination and carries you along to different wine regions of the world through his novels. This is an easy book to read, so you can enjoy it while sipping a glass of wine and enjoying summer on your patio or at the beach.
Where Can I Buy This Book?
This book is available for purchase through Amazon.
