It is perhaps inevitable that Echikson, as a wine columnist for the Wall Street Journal Europe , would see recent events in Bordeaux winemaking as a glorious battle in which upstart winemakers, driven by globalized forces of capitalist competition, wage a successful battle against the heavy-handed regulations of the French state rooted in the famous 1855 classification. And so he does in his narrative of the growing season and harvest of 2001. Along the way he provides a window into the operations of the great and small wine-making houses, profiles of winemakers and powerful critics, and a glimpse into the economics of wine production and marketing. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)