Wine Library, Read: Bottles Only

Today I decided to browse the wine section at my local library.  Skipping over the straight up wine guides, I aimed towards books that promised more of a narrative that a "Do's and Don'ts of Wine Tasting".  The problem, as I soon found out, was that even the books promising stories of wine guides traveling through exotic European locales eventually turned into opinionated accounts of what wines were and weren't acceptable.  Only, in these instances, the ratings were based on accounts of quirky proletariat vintners who bucked the system versus the wines that rated 90+ points on the wine world's Top Ten Palates. 

It was as if these authors spent a good 200 pages saying, "Yeah, screw you, Robert Parker -- who cares if these guys make wine that tastes like raisins, they're not sellouts, so their wine is superior on principal!  HA!"  Okay, so these little working class wineries were so much better that you chose to commercialize on their stories by publishing a book ripping on the commercialization of the wine industry. 

Hey, wait a sec: Where'd that pleasant little narrative through the rolling hills of France go?

It isn't as if I'm seeking out the Eat, Pray, Love of wine writing, but when it comes to wine, I'm not looking to be told what to think or how to do it right.  Tips and hints are always welcome and anecdotes are forever enjoyable, but please, spare me the diatribe that wanders into foot-stomping territory.  The only foot-stomping that should happen in the wine world is the kind that takes place in bins full of grapes.