Elaine Chukan Brown - The Wines of California

My guest for this episode is Elaine Chukan Brown.

Elaine is a writer, speaker, wine educator, and now author of the book The Wines of California. Elaine has been a contributor, columnist, editor, and/or wine reviewer for nearly every wine publication out there, and they co-founded the Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum, and have advised diversity initiatives in multiple countries.

In 2019, the Wine Industry Network named Elaine one of the Most Inspiring People in Wine. In 2020, they were awarded Wine Communicator of the Year in the world by IWSC and VinItaly, and they were named a Wine Industry Leader in the North American wine industry by Wine Business Monthly.

In 2021, The Hue Society created the Elaine Chukan Brown Award in Wine Education, awarded annually and named for Elaine in recognition of their work in education and their effort to help open the way for others’ success.

In 2022, Elaine was nominated for a James Beard Award in Journalism.

And this is just a short list of Elaine’s work, honors, and awards.

So it should be no surprise that their new book, The Wines of California, is a worthwhile read. But more than that, it presents an overlooked history of wine in the US, and makes it clear how deeply indebted those of us working in wine today are to innumerable unsung people… both past and present.

In some structural ways Elaine’s book gives you what you might expect from a book titled The Wines of California – a history of the wine industry here, regions and producers and grape varieties, and the current challenges we’re facing – but Elaine presents the substance that fills in that structure in such a holistic way, contextualizing each event within global and national currents, and telling this story from a perspective that includes all the participants in all of their complexities…so that I found fresh insights, deeper understanding of my own participation in this history, inspiration for action, and even, believe it or not, hope.

Don’t be fooled by the title. This is not a ponderous exercise in academic wine writing… this reads like a hot take, as well as helpful reference with up to the minute relevance. You might think of it as a People’s History of the Wines of California crossed with a progressive California wine travel guide. In our conversation we talk about the book of course, but it leads to some really important questions that transcend not only the book, but also wine. Elaine talks about how we are in the midst of a revolution, and I’m finding it really exciting to take this perspective into everything I’m doing with wine. I hope you do too.

A big thanks to Napa Green for sponsoring this episode. Don't miss their RISE Climate & Wine Symposium. 

Get Elaine's book:

The Wine's of California

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