What I'm Reading:

By the Smoke & The Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail Thad Vogler

I came into the wine and spirits business by accident, lingered to see what it was like, and stayed when I realized it could be real and serious work. Some people have said to me that it must be fun to be in this line of work. They are not wrong about it being fun, but it also contains the aspects of what some consider real work—meetings, spreadsheets, assessments, and purchases.

Thad Vogler’s book, By the Smoke and the Smell, conveys the work in all of its reality. I have read the first chapter, Calvados, and so far, there hasn’t been a misstep about how grueling and exciting a visit to a producer can be. The combination of high and low, Old Calvados at Camut and McDonald’s coffee at CDG, along with the reality of how little sleep and how much alcohol can sometimes be consumed during the workday, gives the reader the sense that this is work and not tourism. Many people in the industry will understand the references and the behaviors, as well as the feeling of standing in a cellar tasting something in situ. Excitement, exhaustion, and emails all coexist in the tasting room. As someone who has been on the kind of trip he describes in the first chapter, I can’t wait to see what will happen in the ensuing pages.

Alicia Kennedy recommended this book during a conversation about the project I am working on. She basically told me that one has to use the storytelling components of fiction to convey the story of non-fiction. The story has to be made real to the reader. Vogler does an excellent job of making you see what a work trip in the industry is like, but also drawing in an insider like me who knows what these trips are really like.

(Photo: https://baragricole.com/products/by-the-smoke-and-the-smell