A New York Times Bestseller
A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller
A Best Book for Wine Lovers – Wall Street Journal
One of the Best Wine Books of 2015 – Food & Wine
Finalist for best nonfiction book – Northern California Independent Booksellers
Finalist for a Northern California Book Award
The Washington Post says “Dinkelspiel weaves elements of a mystery novel with historical narrative,” resulting in “the most engrossing and engaging book about Napa Valley since James Conaway’s two-volume saga, “Napa” and “The Far Side of Eden.” – Washington Post
The New York Times Book Review says the storytelling in Tangled Vines is “skillful,” and “clear and persuasive.” – New York Times
In its “Holiday Gift Guide to 10 Great Food Books of 2015,” Bay Area Bites calls Tangled Vines “a riveting narrative” that “reads like a novel.” – Bay Area Bites
Tangled Vines is included in “The Best Books for Wine Lovers,” – Wall Street Journal, Nov. 20, 2015
“I would say that if you know everything there is to know about wine, you will know everything there is to know about the Golden State.” – Larry Wilson in the Los Angeles Daily News
“Grapes of Wrath – When $250m of rare wine was set on fire,” – New York Post
“From its explosive prologue to the very last sentence, Frances Dinkelspiel has written an utterly riveting true crime book.”
– Los Angeles Review of Books
Somm TV with Jill Zimorski reviews Tangled Vines.
“Tangled Vines by Frances Dinkelspiel opens your eyes to the dark side of the wine industry in California and is written in such a page-turning way that if you didn’t know any better, you would think you were reading a novel.”
– The Academic Wino
“It is a tantalizing mix of California historical scholarship, true crime storytelling, and a personal quest to follow and understand the wines made by her ancestor… It is also an unsentimental examination of the corruption, ambition, and violence that have plagued the state’s wine industry since its infancy.”
– Berkeleyside
“page-turning stuff,” … “moving,”… “an impressively thorough investigation.”
“Its great achievement is to convey a sense of wonder about wine.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“gripping” … “unflinching”… “a page-turner” – Publisher’s Weekly
“More than just a crime story, this is a book about the wealth, passion, and murky reality shaped by life inside the twisted vines of California’s most revered crop… An enjoyable read for wine connoisseurs and neophytes alike. (Kirkus Reviews)”
—Kirkus
“Tangled Vines: A Must Wine Read” – The Wine Write
“I gulped down this page-turning chronicle of big egos, bold Cabernets, and brazen wine wars. Frances Dinkelspiel vividly captures the wild early years of California’s wine industry as well as the modern crime revealing the dark obsession some people have for wine. I’ll never look at a bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet in quite the same way again. “
—Julia Flynn Siler, New York Times bestselling author of House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
“The author is deeply rooted in the Golden State’s financial history, as anyone knows who read her excellent Towers of Gold. Now we find that terroir’s part of that story, too. A family member’s bottled heirlooms passed down through generations fall victim to a bizarre crime, and the author’s drawn in by a sense of loss, anger, and curiosity. How could even an unhinged perpetrator of the worst case of wine arson in California history destroy vintages bearing some of the biggest names in West Coast viticulture, and apparently get away with it? Dinkelspiel weaves together strands of past and present in an enthralling narrative that binds the reader to the investigation and to her personal triumph.”
—James Conaway, New York Times bestselling author of Napa: The Story of an American Eden
“History, wine and crime intertwine in this fascinating page-turner. Dinkelspiel travels in time to create a dark and deep portrait of three centuries of California wine culture.”
—Davia Nelson of NPR’s “Kitchen Sisters”
“Tangled Vines is a captivating account of how a wine connoisseur became one of the most notorious wine criminals in history. Dinkelspiel deftly weaves his true tale into the rich, colorful, and at times shady history of California wine. A delicious read.”
—Allison Hoover Bartlett, author of The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession