THE WORLD IN A WINEGLASS: The Insider’s Guide to Artisanal, Sustainable, Extraordinary Wines to Drink Now, by Ray IsleWinery owners appear to lead charmed lives. So, too, do wine writers and critics, if their small talk and Instagram feeds can be believed. A lot of chateaus, grand vistas, infinity pools, delicate stemware and candlelit dinners in private rooms seem to be involved. Robert M. Parker Jr. changed wine criticism and wine sales in the 1980s by circumventing language altogether. Early in Ray Isle’s elephantine, hernia-inducing new guidebook, “The World in a Wineglass: The Insider’s Guide to Artisanal, Sustainable, Extraordinary Wines to Drink Now,” the author pauses to complain about the fruit-dependent tasting notes wine writers employ.

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Persons: Ray, “, Pliny the Elder, James Thurber, Tony Hoagland, Dean Young, Robert M, Parker Jr, Robert Moses, Ray Isle’s elephantine Organizations: Ray Isle Winery, Yorker, Little League Locations: Ray Isle, Burgundy