A Tale of Two Valleys cover art

A Tale of Two Valleys

Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma

Preview

Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Tale of Two Valleys

Written by: Alan Deutschman
Narrated by: Michael Cerveris
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $16.47

Buy Now for $16.47

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

When acclaimed journalist Alan Deutschman came to the California wine country as the lucky houseguest of very rich friends, he was surprised to discover a raging controversy. A civil war was being fought between the Napa Valley, which epitomized elitism, prestige and wealthy excess, and the neighboring Sonoma Valley, a rag-tag bohemian enclave so stubbornly backward that rambunctious chickens wandered freely through town. But the antics really began when new-money invaders began pushing out Sonoma's poets and painters to make way for luxury resorts and trophy houses that seemed a parody of opulence. A Tale of Two Valleys captures these stranger-than-fiction locales with the wit of a Tom Wolfe novel and uncorks the hilarious absurdities of life among the wine world's glitterati.

Deutschman found that on the weekends the wine country was like a bunch of gracious hosts smiling upon their guests, but during the week the families feuded with each other and their neighbors like the Hatfields and McCoys. Napa was a comically exclusive club where the super-rich fought desperately to get in. Sonoma's colorful free spirits and iconoclasts were wary of their bohemia becoming the next playground for the rapacious elite. So, led by a former taxicab driver and wine-grape picker, a cheese merchant and an artist who lived in a barn surrounded by wild peacocks, they formed a populist revolt to seize power and repel the rich invaders.

Deutschman's cast of characters brims with eccentrics, egomaniacs and a mysterious man in black who crashed the elegant Napa Valley Wine Auction before proceeding to pay a half-million dollars for a single bottle. What develops is nothing less than a battle for the good life, a clash between old and new, the struggle for the soul of one of America's last bits of paradise.

A Tale of Two Valleys is also available in hardcover from Broadway Books.

©2003 by Alan Deutschman
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.
Politics & Government Travel Writing & Commentary United States Wine Witty Funny
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What the critics say

"Rarely has such an exclusive world and its inhabitants been made so accessible." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about A Tale of Two Valleys

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.