'An organised odyssey through centuries of wine making, illuminated by the author's viticultural excursions and always fired by his enthusiasm for the subject. In short, this book has both depth and breadth and demonstrates enthusiastic scholarship throughout. It will be appreciated by all who claim more than a passing interest in wine.' - Times Higher Education Supplement 'This book is for anyone who wants to know where wine came from and the role it has played throughout history.' - New York Times 'A thoroughgoing examination of the complex interplay of the entire range of environmental and cultural factors that have marked human relationships with wine for at least the past ten thousand years.' - Journal of Wine Research 'A thoroughgoing fascinating book offering many insights into the importance of wine in our culture and the effect of variables such as religion, government, marketing, economics and even colonialism on the growth of the wine industry . It will give the wine lover scores of insights into aspects of wine that for decades have simply been taken for granted.' - California Grapevine '.

Unwin's study offers originality, scholarship, and depth. It is certainly a volume to be savoured rather than quaffed, being based on substantial, diverse and polyglot sources, rather than the usual recycling of wine bibbers' tales.' - Journal of Historical Geography '.a book that fills a major gap in the history of the drink trades (particularly in the English Language) and which should satisfy the generalist and the specialist alike; one that will be appreciated by wine buffs as much as by historians seeking a quick guide to the political and economic significance of the Anglo-Gascon wine trade in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries or the role of the wine trade in the nineteenth century economic crises.' - Business History.