Akademik

n.

A professional but low-budget winemaker, particularly one who processes the grapes in a shed or shed-like building.

From South Africa's stunningly beautiful winelands to "shedistas" making wine in California industrial parks, from ubiquitous California chardonnay to the obscure Sagrantino di Montefalco, he gives us straightforward but nicely written descriptions of how wine tastes and what it goes with.

—Fred Tasker, "Hedonism lite," The Miami Herald, November 16, 2006

If I have any complaint, it is that some of the pieces are too short. The interesting and informative article about the so-called shedistas — low-budget wineries that have sprouted up in and around Santa Barbara that are now turning out some of California's most exciting wines — would have been even better with a few more pages.

—Michael Steinberger, "Drinking Deeply," The New York Times, October 22, 2006

—Jay McInerney, "The Shedistas of Santa Barbara," The Hedonist in the Cellar, October 24, 2006