For over thirty years photographer Charles O'Rear has been fascinated with wine and the process that transforms ordinary grapes into a world-class wine. To understand the making of two of the most renowned varietals, the bold red Cabernet and the softer white Chardonnay, O'Rear travelled 100,000 miles, visited four continents, talked with hundreds of winemakers, and captured thousands of unprecedented images.
Featuring over 125 colour photographs, 'Cabernet' illuminates processes that the causal observer never has a chance to see. O'Rear and his camera are everywhere: looking down from the window of a Cessna flying at 5,000 feet, crammed inside a stainless fermenting tank, or sprawled in the dirt of a September vineyard. Whether he's with the pickers in the field, the vintners in their aging caves, or the revelers enjoying the festivities of a successful harvest, O'Rear truly captures the essence of the Cabernet mystique.
In many ways, this book is like the profiled wine itself: full of character, lush beauty, subtlety, and surprise. And when readers turn the last page, there lingers an elusive romance that will lure them back for more.
