Wine - Wines of the World - Robert Lawrence Balzer byBuoy

Wines of the World: Europe, United States, South America, Russia, New Zealand, Australia and Much More! (Volumes 1 & 2) by Robert Lawrence Balzer


This book is excellent. It offers an overview of wine regions and wine grapes. It was tediously digitized from cassette and separated into files by topic. I know a good bit about wine and this program offers information and viewpoints not to be had in other audiobooks on wine.


http://www.amazon.com/Wines-...land-Australia/dp/1560152060
• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Penton Overseas
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560152060
• ISBN-13: 978-1560152064




http://www.nytimes.com/2011/...-wine-writer-dies-at-99.html

Robert Lawrence Balzer, Wine Writer, Dies at 99
By FRANK J. PRIALDEC. 15, 2011

Robert Lawrence Balzer, an early champion of American wines and a widely read critic of them for more than 60 years as a journalist and author, died on Dec. 1 at his home in Orange, Calif. He was 99. A nephew, Rex Shannon, confirmed his death.

Largely self-taught about wine, Mr. Balzer began his career in the 1930s, shortly after the end of Prohibition. He went on to write more than a dozen books, including “Balzer’s Book of Wines and Spirits” (1973) and “Wines of California” (1978), and was a wine columnist for The Los Angeles Times from 1964 to 1995.

Well before Robert M. Parker Jr., now the world’s best-known wine critic, began his popular newsletter and 100-point rating system, Mr. Balzer published one of the first subscription-based wine guides, Robert Lawrence Balzer’s Private Guide to Food & Wine.

While wine was his main interest, Mr. Balzer’s life was rich in other endeavors. He was at one time or another a restaurateur, an actor, a flight instructor, a press photographer and a Buddhist monk. He led wine tours and taught wine classes into his 90s.

Mr. Balzer was born in Des Moines on June 25, 1912, and graduated from Stanford University in 1934 with a degree in English. After studying acting in England for a year, he joined his family’s luxury grocery business near the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles and soon became the store’s wine specialist.

A Stanford classmate, Will Rogers Jr., son of the legendary humorist, asked him to contribute wine articles to a newspaper Mr. Rogers owned, The Beverly Hills Citizen. Within a few years Mr. Balzer was writing on wine for a score of newspapers and magazines. His first book was “California’s Best Wines,” published in 1948.
In 1950, while working as a photographer for United Press, Mr. Balzer traveled to Cambodia and was ordained as a Buddhist monk. In 1963 he wrote about that experience in the book “Beyond Conflict.”

As the California wine business exploded in the postwar years, Mr. Balzer became one of its more powerful exponents as a writer and figure in wine circles. Well aware of his clout, prominent winemakers like Robert Mondavi, Andre Tchelistcheff, Karl Wente and Rodney Strong journeyed regularly to Los Angeles to cultivate Mr. Balzer’s favor and drink their wines with him. His own newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, mildly criticized him at one point for being too close to the people whose wines he judged.

While studying acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1936, Mr. Balzer met and married another acting student, Emily Abel. They were divorced in 1946. He had no children and never remarried. He published his subscription newsletter from 1970 to 1984.

His acting career may have ended, but his fascination with Hollywood personalities did not. Many — Cecil B. DeMille, Alfred Hitchcock, Marlon Brando and Ingrid Bergman among them — were customers at the Balzer store, where he became their de facto wine consultant and drinking companion. He liked to recall how he induced Gloria Swanson to come out of retirement in 1972 to star in the television film “Killer Bees,” about a vineyard matriarch who presided over a colony of them.
Like many wine specialists, Mr. Balzer was not indifferent to the pleasures of other drinks. His wine work done, he often treated himself to two ounces of Johnny Walker Red Label Scotch. His nephew once cautioned him against it, saying of Johnny Walker, “It’s not the best they make.”
“It tastes best to me,” he replied.



http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/46126
Robert Lawrence Balzer: 1912-2011
America’s first wine writer and California wine advocate

________________________________________

Robert Lawrence Balzer was 24 years old when his father put him in charge of buying wine for their small grocery store in Los Angeles. He stocked the shelves of Balzer's on Larchmont, a gourmet market in the heart of the old grocery district not far from Hollywood and Beverly Hills, with the finest wines he could find.
The store would be Balzer's introduction to wine and to Hollywood, but that was only the beginning. He went on to become America’s first wine journalist, writing an influential column for the Los Angeles Times magazine. He was an unabashed cheerleader for California wine as the industry matured. He also became one of the country’s preeminent wine educators, teaching a generation about the nuances of food and wine. Balzer died Dec. 2 at the age of 99 at his home in Orange, Calif.
In his heyday, Balzer knew everyone in wine and everyone in wine knew him, his friends recalled. He was active in food and wine circles and maintained a sharp wit until the end.

“He was clearly California’s first truly great wine writer and a pioneer,” said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator. Along with being an early contributor to Wine Spectator, Balzer was also one of the founders of the California Wine Experience. “He was the first real wine educator for California wine. He brought tremendous color to the California wine industry. I owe a lot of my knowledge about California wine to him. He deserves tremendous credit for what he did.”

Through the decades, Balzer rubbed shoulders with all the big names in wine, including André Tchelistcheff, Ernest and Julio Gallo, August Sebastiani, Robert Mondavi and Alexis Lichine. He also knew many of Hollywood’s most famous stars, including Marlon Brando, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson and Ronald Reagan, who asked Balzer to plan food and wine for an inauguration event.
“In my opinion, one of the finest wine writers of all time,” said Sam Sebastiani, whose family owned Sebastiani Vineyards in Sonoma for nearly a century before selling it two years ago. “He was a pioneer in the evaluation of wine during the beginning years of critical wine writing. He had a creativity with words that is seldom matched and sensitivity for evaluation of wine without demeaning the winemaker."
Born June 12, 1912, in Des Moines, Iowa, Balzer went to work for his father after graduating from Stanford University. Over the years, he was a retailer, artist, actor, restaurateur and even a flight instructor during World War II. He studied to be a Buddhist monk in Cambodia.

He began writing about wine for a Beverly Hills newspaper in 1937 and published the first of his 11 books—California's Best Wines—in 1948. It wasn't long before he began branching out to other publications, most notably Travel Holiday magazine, which published his articles for more than two decades. Balzer's period of greatest influence began in 1964, when he started a weekly wine column for the Los Angeles Times magazine. A few years later, he launchedRobert Lawrence Balzer's Private Guide to Food and Wine, quite likely the first wine newsletter in America.
In the late 1960s, a new era in California wine was beginning, with names like Heitz and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars creating a buzz, and Balzer was helping to usher it in. Balzer conducted blind tastings for the Times and a great review meant exposure to a large audience. Robert Mondavi was just getting started with his own winery when his 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon won a prominent Balzer tasting.

"I championed many wines," Balzer told Wine Spectator associate editor Tim Fish in a 2002 interview. "Wente, Martini, Beaulieu, Inglenook—I championed them all very strongly." Bright, quick-witted and articulate, he was a keen student of wine and appreciated it at many levels. While he was an early advocate of collectibles such as Silver Oak, Balzer could also be passionate about wines like Gallo's Hearty Burgundy.

Harvey Posert, Robert Mondavi’s right-hand man and the winery’s public relations director, said Balzer played a crucial role in the l960s development of Southern California as the nation's top table-wine market. “His classes and presentations made many people wine enthusiasts,” said Posert, who lives in St. Helena. “And his friendships from the Hollywood community to the Napa Valley were extremely helpful. He brought Vincent Price to my work for Wine Institute—did we enjoy those tastings.”

Of the many roles he took on over the years, teaching may have been Balzer's greatest passion. "There's a give and take," Balzer told Wine Spectator in 2002. "In a sense, it's theater." He continued teaching classes, taking students to Napa and Europe, into his 90s.






Robert Lawrence Balzer dies at 99: L.A. Times wine writer
Educator and journalist Robert Lawrence Balzer, who died Dec. 1 at 99, wrote an influential column in the Los Angeles Times for three decades and championed the California wine industry.

Robert Lawrence Balzer, a wine critic and educator who wrote an influential column in The Times for three decades during a career that stretched from the post-Prohibition era through the explosion of the California wine industry he championed, has died. He was 99.
Balzer, who had also been a wine merchant, an actor, a Buddhist monk and a restaurateur, died of natural causes Dec. 1 in Orange, said his nephew, Rex Shannon.

Known for his erudition and flamboyant personality, Balzer wrote a wine column for the newspaper from 1964 to 1995. He was also the author of a dozen books, including "Balzer's Book of Wines and Spirits" (1973) and "Wines of California" (1978).

For 14 years beginning in 1970, he produced one of the first subscription-based wine guides, Robert Lawrence Balzer's Private Guide to Food & Wine. It was well established years before Robert M. Parker Jr., now the world's best-known wine critic, launched his popular newsletter and 100-point rating system.

"His words were poetic," Mary Ellen Cole, coordinator of the venerable Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition, said of Balzer, who helped judge the contest for more than 50 years. "He was delightful and taught others to love wine in a day when many wine connoisseurs were viewed as 'wine snobs.'"
Long after he stopped writing, Balzer maintained a dedicated following by leading wine tours through Northern California and Europe and teaching wine-appreciation classes. Until he was 96, he taught two eight-week sessions a year at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

In between blind tastings and presentations by well-known winemakers, he regaled students with stories, such as the time his trunks came off while swimming in the Russian River with a number of wine industry leaders, or how he talked "Sunset Boulevard" leading lady and longtime friend Gloria Swanson out of retirement to play the strangely powerful matriarch of a vineyard with a colony of deadly bees in the 1972 TV movie "Killer Bees."

He also made a point of telling classes that he enjoyed being back on the Queen Mary — a reference to the fact that he sailed on its maiden voyage in 1936.
"He was off the charts," said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator magazine, who called Balzer "California's first truly great wine writer."
Shanken began reading Balzer's newsletter the year it started and found its accounts of winemaking history so engaging that he shifted from real estate and investment banking to food and wine publishing. He is among many prominent wine world figures who credit Balzer with inspiring their careers.

"If not for him, I wouldn't be in the wine business," said Steve Wallace, owner of the Westwood wine emporium Wally's Wine and Spirits, which he founded in 1968 after taking one of Balzer's classes through UCLA Extension.

"He had all the great winemakers — Louis Martini, Karl Wente, André Tchelistcheff — driving down from Northern California to speak at his classes," Wallace recalled. "In the California wine industry, he is really underestimated. He did more for it as a journalist than anyone I know."

Born in Des Moines on June 25, 1912, Balzer earned a bachelor's degree in English from Stanford University in 1935. The following year, while studying acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, he married fellow student Emily Abel. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1946. Balzer never remarried and had no children.

In 1936 he began working in the wine department of his father's gourmet market in Los Angeles' Larchmont district, where the customers included Hollywood heavyweights such as Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock. In 1937, four years after Prohibition ended, he wrote his first wine column for the Beverly Hills Citizen, published by his Stanford classmate, Will Rogers Jr., son of the famous humorist.

After serving as a flight instructor in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, Balzer wrote his first book about wine, in 1948. During the 1950s he went to Southeast Asia as a United Press photographer and was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Cambodia. He wrote a book about Buddhism called "Beyond Conflict" (1963).

He was running Tirol, a restaurant in Idyllwild, when he began writing about wine for The Times' Sunday magazine. "There are California wines as fine as the best of Europe," he wrote in his first piece in 1964. It took about a decade for a broad public to reach the same conclusion.

He was sometimes criticized for being too friendly with winemakers and writing mostly favorable reviews. In a 1987 examination of leading wine critics, Times media critic David Shaw wrote that Balzer was guilty of some ethical lapses, including writing a book subsidized by winemaker Paul Masson.
But Shaw also noted that those who disapproved of the behavior of many wine writers "seem willing to forgive almost anything Balzer has done" because of his pioneering role in wine journalism and lengthy service to the wine industry.
Balzer was an Orange County resident for nearly 50 years. A celebration of his life is being planned for January.

For the past 10 years, Balzer's favorite afternoon libation was not a fine Cabernet or Sauvignon Blanc, but two ounces of his favorite Scotch on the rocks. "I said, 'Bob, Johnny Walker Red Label is not the best Scotch they make,'" his nephew recalled telling him. "He said, 'I know, but it tastes best to me.' His cardiologist said, 'Don't worry about it; it's probably keeping his blood thin.'"
elaine.woo@latimes.com



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lawrence_Balzer

Robert Lawrence Balzer (June 25, 1912 – December 2, 2011) has been called the first serious wine journalist in the United States. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa. At the age of 24, he was put in charge of the wine department of his family’s grocery/gourmet market in Los Angeles, California. Because he knew nothing about wine, he quickly educated himself on the subject. Balzer soon championed quality California wines and stocked his shelves with the best American wines available. He promoted wine in his customer newsletter and was asked by Will Rogers, Jr. to write a regular wine column in his local newspaper in 1937. In 1948 Balzer published California’s Best Wines, the first of his 11 books. His wine writings include articles published in travel Holiday for over twenty years, a weekly column in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Robert Lawrence Balzer’s Private Guide to Food and Wine. In 1973, Balzer organized the New York Wine Tasting of 1973 which was a precursor to the matching of French and Californian wine at the Judgment of Paris. Balzer oversaw food and wine at the presidential inaugurations of Ronald Reagan in 1981 and 1985 and for George H. W. Bush in 1989. Balzer died on December 2, 2011 in Orange, California at the