Jupiter’s Blood

About the Book

American wine expert, Dante Lombardi, is struggling to come to terms with his best friend’s suicide. His world is further upended when his ex, Dr. Claire Durant, introduces him to a synthetic lab-made wine she’s developed. Replivino can pass for the finest wines produced by the world’s best winemakers at a fraction of the cost. When Claire and her company’s ‘Vino Code’ disappear, however, Dante must put his feelings for what he deems frankenwine aside and rush to Europe to find her. But Dante isn’t the only one looking for Claire as she pursues her own agenda to pop the cork on the traditional world of wine. So too is a ruthless wine counterfeiter. In a race across Europe, Dante must rely on his French and Italian wine industry connections, partner with new allies and old adversaries, and plumb the depths of his memory cellar to find Claire. Can he do so in time to save the global wine industry from ruin in the face of mass commoditization?

About the Author

Steven Laine’s first wine thriller, Root Cause, was released in 2019 by Turner Publishing. Kirkus Reviews called it “An entertaining, wine-soaked mystery.” The Washington Post wrote; “If Michael Pollan and Dan Brown sat down over a bottle of Barolo and brainstormed a novel based on the neuroses of the natural wine movement, they might have come up with something like ‘Root Cause’.” Steven is a French Wine Scholar, an Italian Wine Scholar, a Spanish Wine Scholar, and a Canadian Wine Scholar. He is the only North American ever invited to join the Champagne Academy in France and is a member of International Thriller Writers. As an award-winning restaurateur and hotelier, he has travelled the world working in luxury hotels for international brands including The Ritz, Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Jumeirah, and Pan Pacific. He developed his passion for wine as a Sommelier and Beverage Director in London, England. Since then, he has visited hundreds of wineries in Napa, Sonoma, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, Loire Valley, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Chile, and South Africa. During the pandemic, he worked the 2020 harvest as a harvest cellarman for three months to learn the winemaking process firsthand from the winemakers at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery in British Columbia, Canada’s Best Winery, 2019. In 2021, he worked at Trius Winery in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario where he put his winemaking and forklift-driving skills to use once again as a cellarman. He is currently living in London, England working on his next wine thriller, Heist Bordeaux, and taking the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wine, the pre-cursor to the Master of Wine program.