I WRITE this book because I have something to say, and not because I have to say something. It is of small importance how I tell what I know, but I know what I have to tell is important. Probably no other American has made near so thorough a pilgrimage among the vineyards of Europe as I have, and certainly not among those of France. When I began my explorations I had barely enough knowledge of wine-growing to know what it was I needed to learn, which was better, perhaps, than to know so much as to feel above the need of learning