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Root Cause

Steven Laine (Goodreads Author)

4.10 · Rating details · 31 ratings · 12 reviews

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Paperback, 400 pages

Published February 19th 2019 by Turner

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· 31 ratings · 12 reviews

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Oct 15, 2018 Jo Dervan rated it really liked it

Corvina Guerra, a flying winemaker, worked for a multinational wine distributor, Universal Wines. The company owned over 175 wineries and represented another 500 wineries. Corvina was based in Barcelona and was sent to a vineyard in Italy to inspect it and make suggestions for improvement. While there, she discovered a disease called Phyllorexa that was spread by aphids. The aphids destroyed the roots of the vines and the only known solution was to rip up and burn all the vines in that vineyard. Corvina Guerra, a flying winemaker, worked for a multinational wine distributor, Universal Wines. The company owned over 175 wineries and represented another 500 wineries. Corvina was based in Barcelona and was sent to a vineyard in Italy to inspect it and make suggestions for improvement. While there, she discovered a disease called Phyllorexa that was spread by aphids. The aphids destroyed the roots of the vines and the only known solution was to rip up and burn all the vines in that vineyard. After new vines were planted, it would take a few years before a new vintage could be produced and eventually sold . The last infestation had spread throughout Europe and wiped out many vineyards.

Corvina rushed back to Barcelona to tell her bosses. Then she flew to corporate headquarters in San Francisco to get permission to investigate and see if other vineyards are wine growing areas around the world had been infected. A friend suggested that she partner with Brian Lawless, a wine expert & blogger who had been denied admission to the Master of Wines exam due to an indiscretion. Brian had many connections in the industry and was able to get permission for her to attend exclusive wine maker functions where she hoped to follow leads to who was responsible.

They travelled to wineries and to consult with wine experts in an effort to find out how the disease had been introduced and spread so quickly around the world. A professor in Canada and a researcher in South Africa both have clues to the suspect.

A San Francisco Chronicle reporter, Malcolm Goldberg started writing feature stories about the infestation and a panic began. The spell check in the article renamed the disease Philomena. A suspect was identified and Interpol in London took over the search. Then Corvina was named as a person of interest in the case and she lost her job. However she and Brian continued searching on their own. Besides concerns for the world wide impact of the infestation, she was concerned about her parents who owned a small vineyard and would lose their livelihood if the aphids reached it.

This book will appeal to wine lovers and mystery enthusiasts alike. There is a wealth of information about the growing of grapes and winemaking. However that is not a distraction from the search for the culprit or culprits.
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Jan 30, 2019 Austin Beeman rated it really liked it

Root Cause by Steven Laine is a globetrotting ‘beach-read’ thriller set within the world of wine.

Corvina Guerra, a flying winemaker for one of the world’s biggest wine brands, discovers the devastating aphid Phylloxera in an Italian vineyard. Even worse, this strain is resistant to the grafted rootstock that saved European wine production in the 1800s. Corvina partners with Bryan Lawless, a disgraced Master of Wine candidate, to find the ‘root cause’ of this outbreak. They will quickly discover ...more

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Sep 23, 2019 Catherine Schafer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Being somewhat of a wine geek who regularly reads non-fiction wine books to further my knowledge and understanding of the grape, this fictional novel was an absolute treat to read as the main characters took me on a global tour of the world's best wine-making regions, all while solving the mystery of finding the eco-terrorist who bio-engineered a devastating threat to the world's vines.

Flying wine maker Corvina Guerra comes from a wine making family and has dreams of eventually settling down and Being somewhat of a wine geek who regularly reads non-fiction wine books to further my knowledge and understanding of the grape, this fictional novel was an absolute treat to read as the main characters took me on a global tour of the world's best wine-making regions, all while solving the mystery of finding the eco-terrorist who bio-engineered a devastating threat to the world's vines.

Flying wine maker Corvina Guerra comes from a wine making family and has dreams of eventually settling down and making wine from her family's own vineyard in Italy. She has spent years travelling the globe for huge wine conglomerate Universal Wines, making wines for many of the company's portfolio of wineries.

When Corvina discovers Phylloxera eating away at vines that have been grafted and should be resistant to the pest that decimated vineyards world wide in the mid 1800's, she knows that something has to be done to avoid a repeat of the same global devastation to the her industry. No one at her company seems to think the threat is real, however, and Corvina, has to convince her CEO to let her investigate.

She enlists the help of a disgraced former Master of Wine candidate, Bryan Lawless. At first Corvina has Universal Wine's blessing and financial backing on their journey to discover the cause of this new form of Phylloxera, but as they discover that the bug was genetically engineered and being spread on purpose by an eco-terrorist, Universal Wines fires Corvina and the two continue the investigation on their own.

The two eventually do solve the mystery, all while taking the reader on an adventurous global tour of well known wine making regions.

The book is an easy read that kept me engaged. I thought the eco-terrorist aspect was an absolutely genius plot and it makes the book feel current and believable. I also appreciated that while there is obvious tension between Corvina and Brian, it does not become the overriding subject of the book.

From Italy to London, and Chile to South Africa, and finally in France, the books offers and engaging look into the world of wine. I would recommend this book to anyone from industry pros to someone who never even drinks it wine. The book is a well crafted story that keeps you turning pages.

My only complaint is that early in the book, a reporter that ends up assisting in the investigation publishes an article with Phylloxera inadvertently auto-corrected to "Philomena." Apparently no one, in the entire world, knows any better and starts calling it Philomena throughout the entire book. I found this to not be plausible and therefore a bit of a distracting annoyance, that I believe will be easier to ignore if you know about it going in.

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Apr 19, 2019 Darby rated it really liked it

Corvina is the name of a grape variety. It is also the name of the heroine in this story. She is is a flying winemaker but throughout the tale she does much more flying than winemaking. She needs to catch the villain before the world's grapes are wiped out by a new strain of the vine louse that attacks the roots of the vines. She manages to visit most of the world's wine regions during her mission dropping incidental notes about wines as she goes.

If you started reading this book as a non wine d ...more

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Sep 03, 2019 Kim Schwarting rated it it was amazing

If you like wine, traveling and a little mystery on the side. This is the book for you. I felt like I was on a world wide trip through all these wineries I wish I could have tasted the wine mentioned in the book. I felt like I was right along side with Corvina the main character as she is trying to figure out who poisoned so many wineries. It was a fun read!

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Mar 08, 2019 Stephanie Davis rated it it was amazing

Steven Laine delivers a fun read for wine lovers and creates a longing for a sequel. The suspense is well constructed and the characters come to life. My favorite part of the story is the Canadian ice wine scene. The book is full of wine factoids, historical wine bits, and unsuspecting tasting notes.

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Feb 22, 2019 Joelle Thomson added it

Root Cause , A novel by Steven Laine, Turner Publishing, RRP $19.99

Review by Joelle Thomson

It’s easy to escape into Steven Laine’s new book about Philomena – the intentionally mis-spelt name for the vine louse, phylloxera, which wiped out two thirds of Europe’s vineyards in the late 1800s.

It’s a novel concept to bring back phylloxera as a new, more deadly threat to the global wine world, and the author does a good job, even if I have spotted a couple of typos in the uncorrected proof sent for re ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Chasity added it

If you're a wine nerd and love a good suspense fiction, Root Cause is definitely one to put on your reading list! What I love most about this book is that it takes the reader on a wild ride across the globe, but doesn’t skimp on the important this we need to know about the world’s most beloved wine regions. Grab a glass of your favorite wine, cuddle up on the couch and enjoy! ...more

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Jun 05, 2019 Paige Comrie rated it it was amazing

A wonderful fictional read that nay wine-lover will enjoy! I couldn't put this one down. Enjoy it with a nice glass of wine! ;) ...more

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Mar 17, 2021 Liam Mycroft rated it it was amazing

Shelves: wine

Fast paced thriller based around my own personal love of wine. To say it was a page turner would be an understatement, as we rapidly moved from vineyard to Vineyard, country to country, and twist to turn.

The author knows his wine and wine regions, with impeccable details, and anyone with knowledge of the history of phylloxera and vines, will have been on nervous tenterhooks as the story develops.

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Dec 29, 2020 Lisa Harlow rated it really liked it

Definitely one for those interested in wine or have visited wine regions around the world. Was remarkably accurate about those regions I’d visited
Fast paced, flying around the world, trying to save the world’s vineyards from a genetically modified outbreak of phylloxera with a few twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed it

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Jul 06, 2019 Marg Corjay rated it really liked it

Interesting wine-based story of how genetically altered insects could cause economic ruin worldwide.
Lots of suspense, wine facts, jet setting travel, and a touch of romance.

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