zin sins

zin sins  presents a fresh, contrasting, and at times schizophrenic look at the California Wine Industry of the early 1980s.  (Yeah, fresh if you’re calling the 1980s  something other than ancient history! — editor’s note.)

The novel was co-authored by Philip Munro and Kevon Andersen.  (Andersen also took all of the photos used on this blog, unless noted.)   zin sins  is the odd collaboration of a self-appointed wine connoisseur (Mr. Munro) and a self-proclaimed consumer writer (Mr. Andersen.)   Because of an early agreement by the two authors (later repudiated by Mr. Munro), Mr. Andersen is co-author, not ghostwriter of  zin sins.   And because of irreconcilable differences over the finished work, a third party has finally stepped in to present their long-overdue work of fiction to the public.

zin sins  is not an epic tale of several generations of a grapegrowing family.  Rather, it is the story of Jeremy Barnes, one of California’s most renowned chardonnay growers — whose father had made prune juice.

Thanks to the insight of Mr. Munro, the reader is presented with a first-hand look at the idyllic beauty of the Wine Country of two decades ago, and of the camaraderie of the people who worked the land and made such superlative wine.  And thanks to the pessimism of Mr. Andersen, the reader is given a most disparaging look at the dubious business practices of those few who exploited the mystique of wine and desecrated the pastoral setting in which it was made.   Alas, but this dichotomy continues today.

That such divergent views could both be presented in one novel is no small feat.  That two such opposite individuals could complete this joint project is the reason, no doubt, that they are no longer speaking — or living for that matter.   For it was only a short time after the novel was completed — but prior to their agent having shopped it around to publishers — that Mr. Munro took the life of Mr. Andersen and then his own.  At the subsequent inquest into the murder/suicide, it was concluded that Mr. Andersen, a heavy drinker, had opened one of Mr. Munro’s stash of  Chateau Beychevelles (a 1970 vintage), and guzzled it from a Flintstones plastic tumbler.  In a fit of rage, Munro beat Andersen about the head with a magnum of Cristal until the bottle finally shattered.  Realizing what he had done, Munro scribbled a hasty note that surprisingly only mentioned his regret over the wasted Cristal. He then swallowed a vile of sleeping pills and washed them down with a 1975 Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port.  The tragedy was discovered two days later, when police broke down the door to their studio and discovered but one body, since Mr. Munro and Mr. Andersen are — or were — one in the same.

The unpublished manuscript fell into the hands of Mr. Munro’s twin brother, Speedy, a liveaboard sailor in Miami who has been in and out of jail for two decades — almost as often as a Dade County politician. 

Speedy Munro, editor of zin sins

In an attempt at a work release program, Speedy Munro has collaborated with his social worker to finally publish this almost-lost wine novel on the Internet.  The three-part  zin sins  is presented as a blog, with each of the 62 chapters as a blog entry.  With approximately two blogs a week, the book should be fully published online by the summer of 2010.  All material, including the photos (unless noted) is copyrighted by Kevon Andersen and an ISBN number has been assigned.  

My hope is that readers of the blog enjoy this unusual tale of a bit of California wine’s recent past.  And my hope is that this project gets Speedy, acting as the novel’s editor,  moving in a new direction in life, one devoid of crime.

– Brandon Bailey, social worker, Florida State Prison System (and amateur eonophile.)

This entry was posted on December 1, 2009 at 4:07 am and is filed under foreword with tags 1980s, California Wine, North Coast wine, Wine Country, wine novels, zin sins, zinfandel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.