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The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World
A self-described wine doofus spends a year in a small Oregon vineyard, chronicling the creative and chaotic labor as the winemakers chase after the perfect pinot noir.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
9 people are currently reading
286 people want to read
About the author
Brian Doyle
60 books728 followersDoyle's essays and poems have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The American Scholar, Orion, Commonweal, and The Georgia Review, among other magazines and journals, and in The Times of London, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Kansas City Star, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Ottawa Citizen, and Newsday, among other newspapers. He was a book reviewer for The Oregonian and a contributing essayist to both Eureka Street magazine and The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia.
Doyle's essays have also been reprinted in:
* the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005;
* in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2005; and
* in Best Essays Northwest (2003);
* and in a dozen other anthologies and writing textbooks.
As for awards and honors, he had three startling children, an incomprehensible and fascinating marriage, and he was named to the 1983 Newton (Massachusetts) Men's Basketball League all-star team, and that was a really tough league.
Doyle delivered many dozens of peculiar and muttered speeches and lectures and rants about writing and stuttering grace at a variety of venues, among them Australian Catholic University and Xavier College (both in Melbourne, Australia), Aquinas Academy (in Sydney, Australia); Washington State, Seattle Pacific, Oregon, Utah State, Concordia, and Marylhurst universities; Boston, Lewis & Clark, and Linfield colleges; the universities of Utah, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Portland; KBOO radio (Portland), ABC and 3AW radio (Australia); the College Theology Society; National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," and in the PBS film Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (2002).
Doyle was a native of New York, was fitfully educated at the University of Notre Dame, and was a magazine and newspaper journalist in Portland, Boston, and Chicago for more than twenty years. He was living in Portland, Oregon, with his family when died at age 60 from complications related to a brain tumor.
Doyle's essays have also been reprinted in:
* the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005;
* in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2005; and
* in Best Essays Northwest (2003);
* and in a dozen other anthologies and writing textbooks.
As for awards and honors, he had three startling children, an incomprehensible and fascinating marriage, and he was named to the 1983 Newton (Massachusetts) Men's Basketball League all-star team, and that was a really tough league.
Doyle delivered many dozens of peculiar and muttered speeches and lectures and rants about writing and stuttering grace at a variety of venues, among them Australian Catholic University and Xavier College (both in Melbourne, Australia), Aquinas Academy (in Sydney, Australia); Washington State, Seattle Pacific, Oregon, Utah State, Concordia, and Marylhurst universities; Boston, Lewis & Clark, and Linfield colleges; the universities of Utah, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Portland; KBOO radio (Portland), ABC and 3AW radio (Australia); the College Theology Society; National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," and in the PBS film Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (2002).
Doyle was a native of New York, was fitfully educated at the University of Notre Dame, and was a magazine and newspaper journalist in Portland, Boston, and Chicago for more than twenty years. He was living in Portland, Oregon, with his family when died at age 60 from complications related to a brain tumor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
November 24, 2010
Brian Doyle's is the first byline I learned to look for in the Oregonian when I moved here, and I still get an anticipatory flutter when I see it. He's recently written a novel, Mink River and I went to Powell's to listen to him talk. He's an insanely intense and achingly vulnerable speaker who laughs and cries at his own stories. I found out then that he has published several books of essays, and I ordered them all from the library. This is the first one I got, and I dove right in.
I love his tumbling run-on enthusiastic wordy true fine style. I love his unabashed love for his family and his species and his planet and his religion and his wine. I love the way he can make me laugh and cry all at once.
This collection of essays follows the course of a year at the Lange Winery in the Dundee Hills of Oregon, and it is a purely lovely journey. Doyle is never absent from any of his essays, he is so mindfully present that you are too. His words roost in my heart and make it gladder. I've ordered a copy of this book for my own library. 4.5 stars.
I love his tumbling run-on enthusiastic wordy true fine style. I love his unabashed love for his family and his species and his planet and his religion and his wine. I love the way he can make me laugh and cry all at once.
This collection of essays follows the course of a year at the Lange Winery in the Dundee Hills of Oregon, and it is a purely lovely journey. Doyle is never absent from any of his essays, he is so mindfully present that you are too. His words roost in my heart and make it gladder. I've ordered a copy of this book for my own library. 4.5 stars.
January 1, 2017
On a recent visit to Seattle, I was very happy to see an old friend. While we were catching up, I mentioned that I'd love to live in or around Portland, as I am a huge Oregon Pinot fan. Steve, my friend currently living in Seattle, immediately asked me if I had read The Grail. When I replied that I had not, he jumped up and disappeared into another room to find said book, which he very graciously lent me. So, less than a week later, I've finished The Grail, and first off, I have to give Steve credit. There has never been a book that he has recommended or given that has failed to please. Of course, one expects such from an amazing poet and English teacher. Now, to The Grail. I've read, or more accurately am in the middle of reading, a lot of wine books. There is a plethora of information to be absorbed about the juice of the gods, and the more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing. So much data! So, when I began to read Doyle's ode to Oregon Pinot, I braced myself for yet more facts, more statistics, more things to absorb and attempt to remember. And this information is there, but Doyle's presentation is absolutely delightful. He dishes up this information by telling little stories about his own meandering through the vineyards as he learned about the best wine in the world. His vignettes are thoughtful, pithy, funny, and he slips in plenty of that information that I really do wish to master. And, I must say, this is how wine writing really should be done. Yes, wine making is a science, a craft, and, from everything I understand, a whole lotta work! Yet, wine should be savored, contemplated, enjoyed. Doyle's writing more resembles the pleasure of wine than anything else I've read. As to be expected, when I finished this book late last night, I was overcome with the desire to drink some of the best pinot noir wine in the whole wild world. Sadly, my cellar is unaccommodating at present.
July 23, 2025
Not usually my preferred narrative style but omg I loved this!! Reading something about a place you’ve spent so much time and love so much is nourishing!!! I loved this little journey and the little musing and it made me laugh out loud and learn a lot and think a lot. SO STOKED TO DRINK GREAT WINE AND WATCH THE GRAPES GROW!!!!
August 25, 2025
Lovely! Fun! Funny! Oregon! Wine!
Only thing that started to grate on me was Doyle’s obsession with listing things as a literary device. Otherwise, it was a fun summery read to break up the horror, eco-crit and historical stuff I otherwise read.
Only thing that started to grate on me was Doyle’s obsession with listing things as a literary device. Otherwise, it was a fun summery read to break up the horror, eco-crit and historical stuff I otherwise read.
March 27, 2024
I happened upon this unknown Doyle book in a Eugene bookstore. While I prefer his fiction, this book is like having a conversation with a long-lost friend. His lovely run-on sentence writing is warm, gracious, friendly, funny, and melodic - oh how I love to read his words. Any chance I get to read Doyle is time well-spent.
May 22, 2013
Oregonian Doyle spends a year hanging about the Lange Winery learning about the process of growing grapes and making wine. I really appreciated the sections on the history (human and geological) of the area, and this is a book that demands you be drinking a glass of wine as you read it. Some great bits and pieces of info here and there.
His writing style is very "chatty", which makes it easy to read, but can also wear on you after awhile. He loves run on sentences, and even more run on lists of things. Feels like "flller" at times.
I do love OR Pinots and Chards, and buy a number of them direct from the wineries. But the fact of the matter is, while Lange is a very good winery, it is not "The Grail". Wonderful wine, well made - just not really top of the line. So, if you don't buy into this being some of the greatest wine being made in the world (which I didn't), it takes away from the book a bit.
Given all that, it was an enjoyable, informative read and well worth your time, if you're into OR wines. OK, it was written in about 2003-4, but still funny to hear him worry about buying "expensive" $18 bottles of wine. Of course, not like free lance writers are getting rich out there, especially when their books are being published by a small University Press.
His writing style is very "chatty", which makes it easy to read, but can also wear on you after awhile. He loves run on sentences, and even more run on lists of things. Feels like "flller" at times.
I do love OR Pinots and Chards, and buy a number of them direct from the wineries. But the fact of the matter is, while Lange is a very good winery, it is not "The Grail". Wonderful wine, well made - just not really top of the line. So, if you don't buy into this being some of the greatest wine being made in the world (which I didn't), it takes away from the book a bit.
Given all that, it was an enjoyable, informative read and well worth your time, if you're into OR wines. OK, it was written in about 2003-4, but still funny to hear him worry about buying "expensive" $18 bottles of wine. Of course, not like free lance writers are getting rich out there, especially when their books are being published by a small University Press.
January 4, 2018
I am not a wine drinker, but I loved Doyle's book about a year at the Lange Winery in the Red Hills of Oregon. He documents his visits to the winery and discussions with the owners and workers. He also recounts the history of wine making, the Indian inhabitants of the area, the flora and fauna, the men at a close-by monastery (who make fruit cake), and many more things.
I am an unapologetic fan of Doyle's writing which I find a combination of joyful and heart breaking.
I strongly recommend this book.
I am an unapologetic fan of Doyle's writing which I find a combination of joyful and heart breaking.
I strongly recommend this book.
June 11, 2019
I'm erring on the side of generosity with this rating because I'm not a person who enjoys wine and I might have liked the book more if I was, and also because I've read enough of Doyle's work to find his style a bit wearisome, which is not necessarily the case for someone who hasn't read him before. This is a collection of short chapters that, in the end, share a year in the life of a winery in Oregon, specifically the Lange Estate Winery & Vineyards in the Dundee Hills. I'm sure that if I had any interest in alcoholic drinks, this book would prompt in me an interest to visit this winery or, at the very least, to try some of their wine.
The book contains a lot of conversations between Doyle and the winery's 26-year-old manager (all without quotation marks and captured via notebook rather than recorder, so you can only assume they aren't verbatim), some rambling musings about life and nature as he sits among the rows of the vineyard or watching the vineyard's employees at work, and occasional snippets of history about winemaking and particularly about pinot noir. He isn't entirely concerned with accuracy or consistency — he starts one chapter by saying that there's no agreement about the origins of the pinot noir vine, but here are several theories, and another chapter later on saying that the vine, which originated in such-and-such place... I found it annoying the way he refers to his wife as his "subtle research assistant" and generally found his references to women and sex uncomfortable. The thing that's most exasperating about Doyle's writing, though, is how much of it consists of nothing but making lists — lists of the equipment found on the grounds of the winery, lists of the places pinot noir is grown, lists of the flavors you might experience when drinking pinot noir — and these are repeated in different variations several times throughout the book. I think sometimes a list can serve to provide a comprehensive understanding of a place, but when it's used so often it starts to feel like a substitute for doing actual writing — just looking around and naming everything you see.
That said, by the end of the book I did know substantially more than I did before about pinot noir and winemaking, and I do have a sense of the rhythm of the year at a vineyard and winery, which I suppose is what this book was intended to accomplish. I am hesitant to part with my copy of the book, which was signed by the author before his untimely death, and so I'm leaving it at our family's lake house where it will hopefully be read and appreciated by my parents and aunts and uncles who own the house, all of whom live in the Pacific Northwest and share an appreciation for wine. While this wasn't really a book for me, I think readers like them would genuinely enjoy it.
The book contains a lot of conversations between Doyle and the winery's 26-year-old manager (all without quotation marks and captured via notebook rather than recorder, so you can only assume they aren't verbatim), some rambling musings about life and nature as he sits among the rows of the vineyard or watching the vineyard's employees at work, and occasional snippets of history about winemaking and particularly about pinot noir. He isn't entirely concerned with accuracy or consistency — he starts one chapter by saying that there's no agreement about the origins of the pinot noir vine, but here are several theories, and another chapter later on saying that the vine, which originated in such-and-such place... I found it annoying the way he refers to his wife as his "subtle research assistant" and generally found his references to women and sex uncomfortable. The thing that's most exasperating about Doyle's writing, though, is how much of it consists of nothing but making lists — lists of the equipment found on the grounds of the winery, lists of the places pinot noir is grown, lists of the flavors you might experience when drinking pinot noir — and these are repeated in different variations several times throughout the book. I think sometimes a list can serve to provide a comprehensive understanding of a place, but when it's used so often it starts to feel like a substitute for doing actual writing — just looking around and naming everything you see.
That said, by the end of the book I did know substantially more than I did before about pinot noir and winemaking, and I do have a sense of the rhythm of the year at a vineyard and winery, which I suppose is what this book was intended to accomplish. I am hesitant to part with my copy of the book, which was signed by the author before his untimely death, and so I'm leaving it at our family's lake house where it will hopefully be read and appreciated by my parents and aunts and uncles who own the house, all of whom live in the Pacific Northwest and share an appreciation for wine. While this wasn't really a book for me, I think readers like them would genuinely enjoy it.
November 17, 2008
Excellent book! A more apt title would be, "The Grail: A Year Rambling About Pinot Noir". Here's the perfect excerpt:
“And the most sensitive and touchy and weird of all grapevines is pinot noir. Which is why winemakers call it the poet’s grape. It’s a finicky plant, your margin of error is tiny, a million things can go wrong, you worry about the weather, but can get so locked into pinot noir. It’s the most diverse red wine of all. It has grace and power. It has endless nuance. It has an awesome range. It can be pretty and elegant on the one hand or brooding on the other. It can be so light you can just about see through it or so heavy it looks like syrup.”
Every day that I read this book I yearned for a glass of pinot noir to be waiting for me upon my return home!
“And the most sensitive and touchy and weird of all grapevines is pinot noir. Which is why winemakers call it the poet’s grape. It’s a finicky plant, your margin of error is tiny, a million things can go wrong, you worry about the weather, but can get so locked into pinot noir. It’s the most diverse red wine of all. It has grace and power. It has endless nuance. It has an awesome range. It can be pretty and elegant on the one hand or brooding on the other. It can be so light you can just about see through it or so heavy it looks like syrup.”
Every day that I read this book I yearned for a glass of pinot noir to be waiting for me upon my return home!
July 22, 2022
This is the sort of memoir I would've normally really enjoyed, but I found the run on sentences too distracting. I felt like I was drowning in these sentences that went on sometimes for a full page and a half, losing my sense of the story in the process.
July 5, 2012
My favorite is Pinot Noir, and we are going t o Oregon in few weeks- thought this read would come in handy. But, every time I am reading it, he is such a good writer I want to pour a glass.
April 1, 2019
This book by Brian Doyle is about wine. The specifics are about Pinot Noir but the generals are; winemaking in Oregon, the Trappist monastery in Layette, neighbors, blending, soil, humanity, New Zealand, an Olympic Field Hockey player, birds, bees and life in the lanes (slow, fast, hectic and lazy). I obviously liked this book. Being an ex-pat Oregonian living in Port Angeles, I currently have two Camaraderie Cellars reds and one white opened and awaiting a salmon dinner (the Pinot Gris as the Syrah is a little heavy and I didn't leave enough of the Tempranillo to share).
Do not try to find this book on the Goodreads index. I went through 5 pages of looking for The Grail and was besieged by a mountain of fantasy fiction and a few historicals. The end index was a page in the seventies.
The author is an essayist and at the time of writing, a frustrated pre-novelist. The style is descriptive free associating along the lines of New Mexican mystic meets Hunter Thompson. He writes as I would like to think and the philosophy is not bad either.
Do not try to find this book on the Goodreads index. I went through 5 pages of looking for The Grail and was besieged by a mountain of fantasy fiction and a few historicals. The end index was a page in the seventies.
The author is an essayist and at the time of writing, a frustrated pre-novelist. The style is descriptive free associating along the lines of New Mexican mystic meets Hunter Thompson. He writes as I would like to think and the philosophy is not bad either.
August 25, 2020
This is my second Brian Doyle book... it will not be the last. I find his writing so comforting, whimsical, surprising. I also love that he is Oregon-based and obviously in love with the same kinds of things that I am in love with: the natural world around us, especially here in Oregon, the small kind things that people do for one another, the joys of the good things in life, the moments and small miracles that make life amazing. Here, he experiences the cycle of a winery for a year: a year of making pinot noir, which Oregon is famous for. I don't know much about wine but now I want to. I enjoyed this so much I had to go get a bottle of Lange pinot to see what all the fuss was about. Fuss-worthy for sure! I can't wait until we can do some wine-tasting -- small-town wine-tasting in Oregon in autumn is pretty special. Maybe we can do some open-air tasting. Damn you, COVID. Anyway, love this, love Brian Doyle, devastated to learn (belatedly) that he passed away a few years ago of a brain tumor. But, he left many books and essays behind, which I am just now delving into; always a gift.
June 29, 2025
Although I immediately found Doyle’s writing style grating and a bit annoying, it become harder and harder not to like him as the book goes on.
He’s an endearing fellow and his starry eyed outsider’s view of wine is a unique one in the universe of wine literature. I especially appreciated the inclusion of stories about first people’s, local flora and fauna, etc.
Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in winemaking and the wines of the Willamette Valley.
He’s an endearing fellow and his starry eyed outsider’s view of wine is a unique one in the universe of wine literature. I especially appreciated the inclusion of stories about first people’s, local flora and fauna, etc.
Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in winemaking and the wines of the Willamette Valley.
November 21, 2018
I am not a fan of Brian Doyle's writing style (the full title of this book captures his style in a nutshell) yet the subject matter of this book were compelling enough for me to rate the book 4 stars. I live 20 miles from the Red Hills of Dundee and am now eager to try Lange wines! I also feel bad disparaging the work of a person who subsequently died so tragically.
March 14, 2025
This incredibly detailed journey through the vineyard gave me a greater appreciation for pinot noir and the harvest, as well as the many hands involves in creating a business/culture within the wine world. I hope I get to sample this wine from the Lange estate. I’ll add it on my wishlist. I learned so much through this book, and it was honestly a breeze to read. Very personable. Very worldly.
April 29, 2018
Loved the language and the imagery. Read the book for my Garden Club. Enjoyed the discussion about the art and practice of developing Pinot Noir. Since I am from Portland and have made many visits to the areas he discussed over the years, I was quite interested.
June 18, 2018
Like a Brian Doyle novel, but about Oregon Pinto Noir (and of course, many related topics) - and that's a good thing! Put this wonderful book about wine on your shelf with other awesome wine writers like Jonathan Nossiter, Ferenc Mate, Angelo Pelligrini and Randall Grahm.
June 26, 2019
I found this book glorious. I adore Doyle's imaginative, expressive style - which I understand is not for everyone. Also fun is that my husband knows so many of the people involved. Recommended less for wine nerds than for fans of scenic imagery and also wine.
January 26, 2020
I got more spirit here than at church. Brian Doyle doesn’t preach about wine or anything else, but reading this connected me to deep mystery and kindness. And to learning about how pinot noir is made. (less)
January 21, 2023
I should have read the title more closely; this book is a lot of "ambling." The writing style is chatty, the prose flabby, and there's just too much of the author in every line. I'm an Oregonian enthusiastic about Oregon wines, and this book is a sad disappointment.
May 3, 2018
A wonderful book. A wonderful wine.
March 27, 2021
That was a treat. A comfortable, cozy walk through your favorite hills. I started it while staying in the Dundee Hills. I finished it with a glass of Lange three hills cuvée.
August 7, 2021
No better place to read this ode to a year of winemaking than the red hills of Dundee.
January 17, 2022
Wonderful book that focuses on one of our favorite wineries in Oregon - Lange. This is a must read for anyone interested in the art of wine making and life of those who love bringing it to life.
July 23, 2024
Sort of Calvin Trillin-y vibes with this one.
October 10, 2024
Exceptional.
October 6, 2025
am on a quest to read everything by brian doyle and this is my least favorite one so far. my wine snob parents liked it but I'm too much of a troglodyte to appreciate wine literature
December 10, 2016
“For all that so many of us drink wine and buy wine and read about wine and make gifts of wine to each other and visit wineries and vineyards and see movies about wine and talk pseudoknowledgeable about wine, very few of us, it seems to me, have the faintest notion of how grapes get to be glee in the glass.”
I picked up this book because it is by Brian Doyle. Although you can’t tell by my list of books here, I really like Doyle’s writing. I have encountered his poetry and essays before in a number of publications. Most of what I have read by him is about faith, so I was intrigued by this book. I wasn’t sure that writing about the best pinot noir in the world was the same as writing about religion and spirituality.
I should not have been surprised that some of this book resembles Doyle’s other writings. His way of writing is obviously a big part of him and so the style of this book and other things I have read are similar. And that is a big part of why I liked this treatise on wine.
By the time I was halfway through these short, pithy stories/essays, I was in love with the Lange vineyard, Oregon, and the world of viticulture. I felt like I was with Doyle when he took his monthly visit to Dundee, Oregon. I started to read the book more slowly so that I could spend more time in this delightful place. A place I would have never found on my own or seen quite so clearly without Doyle’s writing.
If you enjoy wine, if you enjoy good writing or if you like to travel to places outside of your neck of the woods, give this book a try. I hope you are as pleased with your visit to the Lange winery as I am.
I picked up this book because it is by Brian Doyle. Although you can’t tell by my list of books here, I really like Doyle’s writing. I have encountered his poetry and essays before in a number of publications. Most of what I have read by him is about faith, so I was intrigued by this book. I wasn’t sure that writing about the best pinot noir in the world was the same as writing about religion and spirituality.
I should not have been surprised that some of this book resembles Doyle’s other writings. His way of writing is obviously a big part of him and so the style of this book and other things I have read are similar. And that is a big part of why I liked this treatise on wine.
By the time I was halfway through these short, pithy stories/essays, I was in love with the Lange vineyard, Oregon, and the world of viticulture. I felt like I was with Doyle when he took his monthly visit to Dundee, Oregon. I started to read the book more slowly so that I could spend more time in this delightful place. A place I would have never found on my own or seen quite so clearly without Doyle’s writing.
If you enjoy wine, if you enjoy good writing or if you like to travel to places outside of your neck of the woods, give this book a try. I hope you are as pleased with your visit to the Lange winery as I am.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews