Chateau Monty by Monty Waldin
85 out of 100

Published Thursday, December 4, 2008

Overview

Chateau Monty is the true story of a wine writer Monty Waldin going to the South of France hiring a vineyard and making wine using biodynamic principals.

Now I was not expecting to enjoy this book. I had seen a couple of episodes of Chateau Monty on Channel 4 and I was put off the whole idea of this book. The show had silly props such as Linzie Bisset the 34 year old divorcee who was his assistant. Given her importance in the TV Show she is not even mentioned in the book. The book does what the TV series should have been about, but just missed the mark.

Perhaps the reason Linzie had been introduced to the Channel 4 TV show may be because Chateau Monty, the book, lacked any conflict so it never develops any pace. But I enjoyed it, it gives a great insight into being a new winemaker in the South of France along with some of the problems encountered. There is a lot that can be learnt from reading the book, but the two key topics are viticulture, the life cycle of a vineyard and Biodynamics. If you want a book that has loads of interesting insider tips it certainly has that.

Occasionally, Monty links between normal dialogue with more educational sections and the result is a bit clumsy, but you can see that Monty the writer wants to get his ideas across and educate a bit along the way.

At 297 pages it is a fairly solid read, even if the narrative is a bit weak, but to a wine buff it is a fun read. Enjoyable and educational - a great combination.

I give it 85 out of 100, worth a read by any wine enthusiast.