“Napa Wine Country/Photography and Words,” and Yes, There really was a Charles Shaw Winery.

A few weeks ago we spent one night in the Boonville Hotel in Mendocino County visiting some of the new wineries in the Anderson Valley. We found something very special. No, it was not a winery but a book about Napa Wine Country. While sipping our morning coffee in the Boonville Hotel we came across a book in their library by Earl Roberge, entitled “Napa Wine Country, Photography and Words.” The book was first published in 1974 and revised in 1985.

The words by Earl Roberge are fabulous because they come from his heart. He obviously loved the Napa Wine Country and his words and photography expressed his passion for the place. There are easily 100 photographs or more by Roberge and several depicting some of the most influential figures in the Napa Valley wine history: Joe Hietz, Robert Mondavi, Louis Martini, Hans Kornell, and Brother Timothy, just to mention a few.

The Real Charles Shaw

In chapter 13 of his 1985 revision, Roberge writes about the many changes that have occurred since the first edition. Remember all those urban legends about Charles Shaw when Trader Joe’s first starting selling the infamous “Two Buck Chuck?” Well, on page 201, Roberge writes about how Charles Shaw had built a new winery near St. Helena specializing in Gamay Beaujolais. “He converts his Gamay grapes into sprightly young wine that is usually on the market by November 15 of the year it was vinted”… but, his Gamay Nouveau and some shrewd marketing have been part of his huge success.” What irony!

We really wanted a copy of this book, so with our trusty laptop we checked Amazon and discovered the book was no longer in print and they did not have any used copies. So, we offered to buy the Boonville Inn copy from the proprietor but he was not interested in selling or trading. Eventually, we were able to purchase a used copy in perfect condition from an online book dealer in the U.K. We paid $55 for it and, like a good bottle of wine, it is worth every penny.