Thirsty Dragon - A Book Review

In her book, Thirsty Dragon, Suzanne Mustacich tells the overlapping stories of an interesting group of players as they join China on its 20 year journey into the world of wine. This well-documented saga of China's race to build the infrastructure needed to become one of the superpowers of the wine world collides with Bordeaux's need for buyers in 2009. China's willingness to speculate on wine as an investment combined with their gift giving culture leads to mini-skirted translators facilitating sales in Bordeaux and millions of dollars of classified growths sitting in Chinese warehouses. The tale continues with high level corruption in the Chinese government, counterfeiting and fraud. A brief lesson on the economy and the wine regions of China add more background to this story of the "largest government funded drinks tab in history." An interesting and well-researched read for any winelover that should be enjoyed with a generous pour of Bordeaux.

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Lust Zinfandel 2007

My husband loves this wine so he purchased quite a few bottles at a recent Michael~David dinner that we had attended. Last night, I decided to open a bottle to serve with dinner. I was making a roasted southwestern pork tenderloin, sweet potato fries (w/ chipolte ketchup) and a salad consisting of baby lettuce (fresh from my garden) with strawberries, red bell peppers, red onions and walnuts tossed with a white balsamic-raspberry vinaigrette. This turned out to be a great pairing. It is a bold wine that really stood up to the strong chipolte seasoning while complementing the fruit flavors. I opened the bottle a 1/2 hour before I served it as I have found this wine to be more enjoyable when I do so. The Lust Zinfandel by Michael~David 2007 was a dark purple color with a ruby rim. It has intense aromas of very ripe mixed berries and baking spices-both allspice and ginger with hints of cedar. It has flavors of creme de cassis, milk chocolate and also more of the baking

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