When I started to look for a structure for this book, for which I had been gathering information for quite a few years, I realized that I would first have to convince my editor George Constable that there was such a thing as an Iranian wine drinking tradition. I had to bring to his attention my research into the work of archeologists, linguists, travelers, Persian poets and contemporary scholars who had written about wine and Iran, such as Homa Nateq, Souren Melikian-Chirvani, Willem Floor, Patrick McGovern and Rudi Matthee. If I could convince George, I knew I’d have a book worth pursuing. It was hard, but eventually he accepted that there was more in this book than my usual refrain that everything came from Iran. Thank you George for all your help in structuring the book and helping with the writing, and for bringing to bear your astute and professional attitude to publishing. Without you this would have been a much less worthwhile book.
