Schoonmaker Frank

The US-American Frank Musselman Schoonmaker (1905-1976) is considered one of the most influential wine writers in the world. He first worked as a writer of travel guides and became aware of various French wine regions during his travels in Europe through his acquaintance with Raymond Baudoin (editor of the magazine "La Revue du vin de France"). After the lifting of American Prohibition in 1933, he wrote articles about wine in the "New Yorker", which were published in collected form in 1934 under "The Complete Wine Book". His later work "Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia of Wine" is one of the classics. He founded a wine import business, in which the later wine author Alexis Lichine (1913-1989) was employed for a few years. In cooperation with Baudoin, he opened up the American market to smaller businesses from Burgundy. He criticised the then common wine designations with grape variety names (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir etc.) and together with Lichine introduced semi-generic names such as Burgundy, Chablis, Rhine etc., which then subsequently led to export problems on the European market (cleared up in 2005 in connection with the wine trade agreement between the USA and the European Union; see under Wine Law). In California, Schoonmaker worked as a consultant for wineries. He also made a name for himself as a connoisseur of German wines and as a wine critic. See also under Literature.