Wine behind the label, 2008 edition
Authors: Phillip Williamson and David Moore
ISBN: 0955765706
Publisher: Williamson and Moore
Price: £19.99

London Restaurant Guide 2008
Author: Charles Campion
ISBN: 1861971362
Publisher: Profile
Price: £8.99

The Wine Diet
Author: Roger Corder
ISBN: 1847440037
Publisher: Sphere
Price: £9.99

The Wine Report 2007
Editor: Tom Stevenson
ISBN: 1405316691
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley
Price: £9.99

The Oxford Companion to Wine 3rd Edition
Editors: Jancis Robinson
ISBN: 0198609906
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Price: £40.00

The World's Greatest Wines
Authors: Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve
ISBN: 1584795573
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Price: £24.95

Need to Know? Wine
Author: Julie Arkell
ISBN: 000720468X
Publisher: Collins
Price: £9.99

Julie Arkell is a hugely enthusiastic communicator on wine, and here she brings her unstuffy, approachable style to bear in a book for Collins' 'Need to Know?' series. This is a practical guide to wine, not dealing with the esoteric, and aimed more at the newer enthusiast with a thirst for learning about how wine is made, how to recognise a wine's aromas and flavours, how to taste, wine and food matching and so on. This sort of book has been done a thousand times before of course, but Julie's style and the user-friendly layout and illustrations of this series make this one of the better attempts at the genre.

Windows on the World Wine Course
Author: Kevin Zraly
ISBN: 1402726392
Publisher: Sterling
Price: £16.99
buy at Amazon for £11.42

This US book is regarded as a classic in the States, and is one of the all-time best-selling wine books. This new edition is being made available in the UK for the first time, and is a refreshing and welcome addition to the wine bookshelves. Zraly is a sommelier who created one of the world's best wine lists and a whole business around it, at the Windows on the World restaurant, destroyed in the tragedy of the World Trades Centre collapse in New York. The book, a thorough course on understanding and appreciating wine, may be slightly US-centric in some of its material, but it is a terrific and successful wine course by any measure. Zraly peppers each page with nuggets of anecdote, information and amusing facts that not only make the book a breeze to work through, but cleverly instil lots of knowledge as you do so.

Pocket Wine Book 2007
Author: Oz Clarke
ISBN: 0316732354
Publisher: Little Brown
Price: £9.99
buy at Amazon for £5.99

Pocket Wine Book 2007
Author: Hugh Johnson
ISBN: 1845331028
Publisher: Mitchell Beazley
Price: £9.99
buy at Amazon for £5.26

Slugging it out each year with the Old Master, Hugh Johnson, Oz's version of the annual Pocket Wine Book wins on approachability, illustrations and simplicity of presentation (basically a very long A-Z of wines, regions, producers, etc. plus short reference chapters) whilst the Johnson version probably still pips it to the post on the sheer erudition and concise, fact-packed nature of its content. Both books are actually put together by teams of researchers and contributors, yet Clarke's enthusiastic, passionate and fun style comes through in his book, just as clearly as Johnson's wry humour and perceptive analysis does in his. Which you choose will largely depend on who's style you prefer, and whether or not the extra readability of Clarke is worth more than the density of information in Johnson.

A Matter of Taste
Editor: John Hurley
ISBN: 0752434020
Publisher: Tempus Publishing
Price: £20.00
buy at Amazon for £13.20

Sub-titled 'The History of Wine Drinking in Britain', I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would, fearing initially that it would be bone-dry in style. Instead, author Jon Hurley (who works in the wine trade but who's previous book was on the history of bare-knuckle fighting) has written a very thorough and comprehensive history book, but has peppered his text with irreverent tales of dirty goings on in the wine trade, frauds and back-firing marketing ploys, that keeps it engaging and easy to read. There are nicely done illustrations, from paintings and photographs to labels and advertising materials that bring many of the points in his timeline to life.

Champagne
Editor: Don and Petie Kladstrup
ISBN: 006073793X
Publisher: Tempus Publishing
Price: £16.99
buy at Amazon for £5.28 (paperback)

The Kladstrups also wrote 'Wine and War' a tale I really enjoyed that looked at how winemaking survived the Second World War. This book follows in a broadly similar vein, being sub-titled 'How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times'. Here, the timescale spans from Attila the Hun up to 1945 again, meeting as it does notable characters who influenced, or were noticeable champions, for Champagne, from Dom Pérignon to Louis XIV of France, to Napoleon Bonaparte. This is a worthwhile follow-up to Wine and War, though perhaps with a slightly narrower appeal.

John Platter's South African Wines 2007
Editor: Philip van Zyl
ISBN: 0958450633
Publisher: John Platter SA Wine Guide
Price: £11.45 inc P&P from richard@r-w.co.uk
buy at Amazon for £12.99

There can be few more exciting and fast-changing wine countries in the world than South Africa, with new producers, wines, and even whole new territories springing up in a constant stream. There is also no wine area in the world that is so well-served by such a minutely detailed and all-encompassing annual guide. John Platter is now the figurehead of this guide only, with a dozen tasters and contributors responsible for the content. That is not surprising; even in the five or six years that I have been buying the guide, it has thickened remorselessly, to its current 612 pages. There are thousands of wines listed with a quality assessment, tasting notes for all their recent releases, and useful background information including contact details. The book also has maps, production figures, grape guides and a lot more.


Cork Jester's Guide to Wine
Author: Jennifer Rosen
Publisher: Emmis Books
Price: £7.84
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Jennifer Rosen, a.k.a The Cork Jester, is the wine columnist for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, and declares amongst her other interests belly dancing and part-time trapeze artist. She appears to be a 'colourful character', which in my sceptical mind often translates as 'irritating'. However, I have nothing but praise for this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and which not only raised a smile on every page, but actually taught me a few things as well. Rosen certainly has a witty, pithy and occasionally acerbic style, that is given carte blanche in this collection of essays that covers all aspects of wine and wine controversy. Rosen clearly knows her stuff inside out on topics like biodynamics, vine diseases, cork vs screwcap and the rest, but it is the refreshing and opinionated style of the writing that carries the reader along enthusiastically. Combining 'entertainment' with interesting, factually accurate information is a marriage that often doesn't work out, but Rosen's book is a little cracker that's a breeze to read and would be of interest to the relative novice or more experienced wine lover.

Cracking French Wine
Author: Hugh Thurlow Baker
Publisher: Cracking It Ltd
Price: £9.99
buy at Amazon for £6.59

Cracking French Wine is a small, slim, pocket diary-sized volume that aims to be an "A-Z for French wine". Whilst most books aiming to make sense of France's myriad appellations, producers, grapes and classifications are weighty reference tomes, this little book is succinct, but very cleverly arranged so that access to useful information is easy to find. The entire wine map of France is dissected region by region, and within each, grape by grape. So the page titled "Languedoc Roussilon" and sub titled "white: Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc" goes on to describe the style of wines made from these grapes in this region, and then to a handy list of appelations in the region and their general price points. There is a list of "also try" alternatives from neighbouring regions, or just wines in a similar style from other French regions. Each chapter starts with a map of the region under the spotlight, and the end of each chapter has a list of recommended producers. This appears to be a list of the generally accepted top performers rather than a hugely insightful list of discoveries, but those finding themselves in Irouléguy and wondering whose wine to try, will still find that very useful.

The Emperor of Wine
Author: Elin McCoy
Publisher: Grub Street
Price: £20.00
buy at Amazon for £13.20

Even though some ephemeral popstars are onto their second "life story" before they are 20, it is still surprising to see that a wine critic can be the subject of a biography. But Robert Parker is no ordinary critic, and more ink has been spent analysing him, than all other wine tasters put together. The first thing to say about McCoy's book is that it is a brilliant read and terrific piece of research. Is it unbiased? I'm not so sure about that: Parker certainly cooperated with the author, but whilst the more contentious episodes of his glittering career are not shirked, his side of the story is presented quite forcibly. But this intelligent and searching book paints a vivid picture of the man that is not always flattering, and looks at how a changing world of wine created Parker, before Parker went on to change the world of wine. There are references to juicy episodes were players in scandals, arguments and hissy-fits surrounding Parker get to put their case, and there are very measured assessments of Parker's influence and the effect he has had on wine today. The book is written in page-turning style, and in chronicaling events throughout Parker's life McCoy has managed to give the reader a much greater insight into the personality of Parker, and what makes him tick. But more than that, this book touches on the entire development of wine over the past 30 years - indeed it is a book that explores wine's role in a broad social context through the last decades of the 20th century.

The Vine Garden
Author: Alex Dingwall-Main
Publisher: Ebury press
Price: £7.99
buy at Amazon -20%

Not my usual 'hard core' wino choice, but a delicious book that is just a really good read, like a flower-filled and more genteel update of the movie Sideways. In this case we swap the fictional Miles, for the factual Dingwall-Main, a highly successful landscape garden designer living and working in France for the past seven years. Dingwall-Main is at a crossroads in his life: not certain that his life in France was what he really wanted, and flirting with a professional and emotional mid-life crisis (one suspects). A wealthy and insightful client gives him an empty wine case as a gift, with a list of Châteaux with wonderful gardens. The client suggests that Dingwall-Main gets on the road, to discover more about the gardens of France, wine, the French way of life and, ultimately, himself. His challenge is to fill the case with one bottle each from his most memorable visits, upon which the client will meet him, pay for the wine, and drink it with him. There follows a diary of the journey, which is full of amusing stories and beautiful evocations of the gardens featured. A very readable book, with a poignant sting in its tail.

Wines of Lebanon Author: Michael Karam Publisher: Saqi Books Price: £25.00 buy at Amazon -30%

Guide to Israeli Wines Author: Daniel Rogov Publisher: Toby Press £9.95 buy at Amazon -30%

What a coincidence that this fascinating pair of books about Middle Eastern wines should appear within a few months of each other, even though the books themselves are like chalk and cheese. Michael Karam's Wines of Lebanon is a large-format hardback, luxuriating over several hundred glossy pages, and comprehensively illustrated with full-colour photography (in fact, photographer Norbert Schiller shares the front cover credits). It is a celebratory book that tells the story of wine in the Lebanon during its 5,000 year history, both in terms of social, cultural and religious history, and with individual profiles of the country's estates and wines. Château Musar, the Lebanon's most famous name, receives 20 in-depth pages, but in fact 16 estates are brought alive with knowledgeable and passionate writing, and Schiller's resonant photography. Daniel Rogov's terrifically comprehensive little book is a pocket-sized reference guide, that aims to be both comprehensive and definitive in its coverage of the Israeli wine scene today. It will be an annual edition. Yes, it has introductory chapters that briefly tell the history of wine production in Israel, but the meat of this book is given over to explaining the current state of play for wine in Israeli culture, and then on to assessments of all the producers, small, medium and large, and detailed assessments of their current vintages, complete with tasting notes and scores. .

Understanding Wine Technology
Author: David Bird
Publisher: DBQA Publishing
Price: £25.00

Treading Grapes
Author: Rosemary George
ISBN: 0593053451
Publisher: Bantam Press
Price: £15.00

Rosemary George is well-known to wine-pages visitors as one of our key columnists, and for this, her latest book (subtitled " Walking Through the Vineyards of Tuscany") she combines her passion for the wines of Tuscany with her love of walking. Rosemary walked over 300 miles of Tuscany's most beautiful wine country in nine visits to the area, compiling as she did a diary not only of her adventures, but of addresses she could recommend for food, wine, sightseeing and general enjoyment of the area. Her focus in each, was wine of course, and visits to a multitude of producers in dozens of Tuscan regions form the core of the book. Here, the book comes into its own for wine buffs, as Master of Wine Rosemary covers much more in-depth information than most "touring the wine country"-type publications. This is expert guidance and assessment at its most open and accessible.

Wine into Words
Editor: James Gabler
ISBN: 0961352558
Publisher: Bacchus Press
Price: £40.00 (imported from USA)
buy at Amazon for £40.00 P+P Free

This huge tome of a book is subtitled "A History and Bibliography of Wine Books in the English Language" and that is aexactly what it is: an academic work of reference stretching to 500 large-format pages indexing 8,000 wine and wine-related books. All bibliographic details are included, as well as Gabler's short pen picture of author and content. It is an exhaustive and extraordinary compilation for those with a serious interest in wine litertature.

The Complete Guide to World Beers
Editor: Roger Protz
ISBN: 1844428656
Publisher: Carlton Books Books
Price: £19.99
buy at Amazon for £13.99

Roger Protz's all-new edition of The Complete Guide to World Beer has recently been published by Carlton Books. It is a brilliant and important book, but let me quote an independent source: Andrew Martin's review in the Guardian newspaper: "For a long time it bothered me that I didn't know how beer was made. Roger Protz is certainly the man to provide the answer. The Complete Guide to World Beer includes "The Art and Science of Beer Making", a "World A-Z of Beer", an analysis of the beer business, chapters on the culture and history of beer and more. The sheer beeriness of this book cannot really be overstated. There are recipes, supplied in many cases by beer experts, for dishes to be made with beer and eaten while drinking beer. The A-Z is relentlessly illuminating...This is a highly enjoyable guide, one that will bring power to the beer drinker's elbow, and some justification, too".

Peat Smoke and Spirit
Author: Andrew Jefford
ISBN: 0747227357
Publisher: Headline
Price: £18.99
buy at Amazon for £13.29

Andrew Jefford is best known as a wine writer, and as one of the most thoughtful and insightful communicators in the field. His book "The New France" won every literary drinks award going, and now he turns his attention to the island of Islay, possibly the most distinctive production area for Scotch Whisky. But this book is also about the land and the people of Islay: an affectionate, very readable history and travelogue, as well as being a thorough investigation of the island's distillers and whisky expressions.

Title: Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion
Author: Oz Clarke
ISBN: 0316728748
Publisher: Websters
Price: £14.99 (buy -30% at Amazon)

This new guide is a fabulous production. It is, if you will excuse the cliché, "lavishly illustrated" with quality photographs and the best wine region maps I've seen: relief panoramas that really give a sense of the contours and lie of the land for all of Australia's wine regions. The book begins in Oz's trademark chatty style, as we eavesdrop on tales of his love affair with Australia, before moving on to a terrifically thorough examination of the Australian wine industry, from grape varieties ("classics" and "future classics") to portraits of the movers and shakers of the industry, to dedicated chapters on each of Australia's regions. Qualitative analysis of all the major producers, wines and vintages are very stylish and contemporary, with label images and interesting facts in "Quickview" side panels. The guide ends with a great fact-file section on visiting the regions, and a useful breakdown of who-owns-what in the complex web of Australian corporations and their hunger for takeovers. A must for Aussie wine fans.

Title: I don't know much about wine...
Author: Simon Woods
ISBN: 184000844X
Publisher: Mitchell Beazley
Price: £4.99 (buy at Amazon)

To get away with writing a book like this - hip and aiming to puncture many bits of wine myth and snobbery - takes a writer who is able to simplify rather than dumb-down, and who has the nous to chop his way through the thicket of politics and reverence that surrounds the subject. More than anything else, it takes a writer who really knows his stuff - well enough to forget much of it, and boil wine truths down to a simple, but concentrated essence. Simon Woods is just the right man for the job, and his track record gives him the necessary authority. This inexpensive little volume is bright and breezy in both design and presentation of material. Unlike some other attempts to sex-up the subject of wine, this one just works, partly because of Woods' chatty, informal and often very amusing writing style, and partly because the standard text-book explanations of grape growing, wine making, and even tricky concepts like terroir are done so lightly, yet so thoroughly. Such educational chapters are punctuated with top-ten lists, blunt opinion pieces and irreverent side-swipes at over-hyped wines, jargon and wine bores.

Title: Noble Rot - A Bordeaux Battle
Author: William Echikson
ISBN: 0393051625
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Price: £14.07

Noble Rot is a serious, contemplative look at the state of Bordeaux today in terms of the wines being made, the players involved, the influences that shape the wines, and the commercial forces behind them. Echikson gets under the skin of Bordeaux, contrasting the "new breed" of winemaking personalities against the aristocratic old-guard, and the influence of Robert Parker. It looks at what has changed in just a couple of decades, from centuries of much more slowly evolved tradition. It also unpicks the complex financial stiching of Bordeaux's suppy chain, and the history of how it was created. What Echikson seeks to do in the book is burrow to the core of Bordeaux, through inter-linked stories that weave through the book, like the battle over Château Yquem, the arrival of new-money upstarts in the shape of garagistes Michel Gracia and Gerard Perse, and the all-pervasive influence of Parker. Part history book, part pot-boiler, part forensic examination, the book is not always the lightest of reads, yet it is causing quite a stir amongst Bordeaux-lovers on both sides of the pond.

Title: Bordeaux (new edition, December 2003)
Author: Robert Parker
ISBN: 1405305665
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley
Price: £45 (buy at Amazon - 30%)

This has been one of my main reference books since I bought the 2nd edition in 1991. There are comprehensive reports on each vintage, the quality of individual appellations is assessed and the top wines within each are detailed. The bulk of the book is then given over to assessment of individual châteaux with extensive tasting notes on their wines. This new edition contains 400 extra pages, with new properties added and, of course, all the most recent vintages. Conclusions: There is considerable variation in Parker's updating of old notes, but if you are serious about this most famous of all wine regions and want reliable guidance to the vintages, châteaux and wines, then Parker really is a must.

Title: Beyond Baked Beans - Real Food for Students
Author: Fiona Beckett
ISBN: 1899791833
Publisher: Absolute Press
Price: £8.99 (buy with 20% off at Amazon)

Fiona Beckett is a passionate writer on food and wine, with a mission to improve and expand our cooking horizons, but with an approach that recognises real world constraints. The target audience for this book is students who want to eat well, but with a limited budget and limited time to spend in the kitchen. To that end, the book is split into sections to help first-time chefs set up a kitchen, shop for food, and master basic cookery techniques. Three chapters of recipes follow: Fuel, Favourites and Feasts. Fuel is a selection of one-pot, 30-minute recipes, but all using good quality inexpensive ingredients, fresh herbs and low fat cooking methods. Favourites is a selction of tried and trusted recipes ideal for students who cook on a rota basis. Feasts is where the real adventure begins, with everything from a full Sunday roast, to authentic Thai and Indian banquets. Wine and other alcohol is covered in "Beyond Bad Booze" which offers advice on wine, beers, spirits and cocktail recipes.

Title: Christie's Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine
Author: Tom Stevenson
ISBN: 1899791892
Publisher: Absolute Press
Price: £35 (buy at Amazon -30%)

Multi-award winning Champagne writer and wine-pages columnist Tom Stevenson has completely revised his seminal fizz encyclopedia for this new edition with 13,000 new wines tasted. The Wine Spectator said of this large format, full colour book "Stevenson's steely, critical eye makes this the definitive book on the world of vinous fizz", and nothing in this new edition seems to have blurred that focus. There are terrific reference sections including Champagne history, how sparkling wines are made, soil and climate, and storing and serving sparkling wines. Then the meat of the book begins; some 300 pages of immensely detailed and honest assessments of just about every Champagne and fizz producing house on the planet. Stevenson's relentless attention to detail means that, for example, 41 different New Zealand producers are scrutinised (about 25 more than I even knew existed) and one gets a real sense of what each house is about in terms of their philosophy and ultimate quality. He certainly pulls no punches in his descriptions and ratings. Highly recommended.

Title: Vintage Wine
Author: Michael Broadbent
ISBN: 0316859648
Publisher: Little, Brown
Price: £30 (buy at Amazon -20%)

Subtitled "50 Years of Tasting the World's Finest Wines", the irrepressible Michael Broadbent shows no sign of slowing down merely because he is in his 76th year: he is still a Director of Christie's wine auctions, still travels incessantly around the world to taste, and still communtes across London by bicycle. This book is a wonderful guide to 50-years worth of fine wine, region by region, wine by wine, but it is also warm and human, with a delightful anecdotes and wine wisdom sprinkled throughout. Broadbent is arguably the world's greatest living expert on fine and rare wines, and make no mistake; this is a serious and comprehensive tome with thousand upon thousand of reviews from this most educated palate. Who else would - or could - include a dozen full tasting notes for clarets of 1899! This is just a wonderful journey through a lifetime of tasting. Broadbent presents a charmingly old-school assessment, where wines are rated and judged on levels of structure and charm, each in the context of when they were tasted, and with whom.

Title: Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, 6th Edition
Author: Robert Parker
ISBN: 0751349798
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley
Price: £50.00 (buy at Amazon 30% off - £35)

The new edition of the single most influential wine book in the known universe. Parker is a phenomenon: his seal of approval can make a winery, but even a mild expression of disappointment can have a devastating effect on sales - such is his influence. It is a massive tome, now split into two volumes, bound together in a card slip cover; a comprehensive round-up of the world's wine output, with scores awarded to all wines tasted as well as full notes. Each of the world's wine regions is taken in turn, and all the important producers listed alphabetically with a run-down of their wines. Parker has broadened his horizons considerably with this edition, for the first time supplementing his usual focus on France and California to allow more than a brief paragraph or two on Austria, Australia and New Zealand. The Guide remains the essential reference work for those seeking guidance in buying or drinking fine wines.

Title: Wine and War
Authors: Donald and Petie Kladstrup
ISBN: 0340766786
Publisher: Coronet
Price: £7.99 (buy at Amazon -20%)

As a complete change to my usual diet of wine text books comes this life-affirming book that looks at the role played by France's vignerons in the second world war. When Hitler's personal cellar was opened at the end of the war, it contained half a million bottles of France's very best wines, from Latour, Lafite, et al. A stockpile of literally billions of bottles had been ammassed by the invaders to help finance the future of the Riech. The Kladstrups employ a style midway between historical novel and crime thriller to tell the tales of the ingenious ways the French fought, tricked and bribed their occupiers to retain this liquid gold, which was so vital to their economy. These range fro the owner of Paris's Tour d'Argent restaurant, who built false walls to conceal his most precious bottles, to inventive cellarmasters who covered their cheapest vin de table with fancy labels, dust and cobwebs so the Germans would make a beeline for them. All in all it is a terrific read for the wine lover.

Title: Greek Wines - A Comprehensive Guide
Author: Geoff Adams
ISBN: 0954203305
Publisher: Winemaster Publishing
Price: £7.99 (buy at Amazon -20%)

Geoff Adams is clearly a man possessed by the charms of Greek wines. His exhaustively well-informed book is aimed specifically at the UK market with comprehensive lists of UK stockists and importers of those wines currently available in this market. Greek winemaking has made huge strides in recent years, and many consumers have already discovered how good modern Greek wines can be through innovative retailers like Oddbins. Adams' book is an invaluable guide to seeking out the best Greek wines of the moment, and I'd thoroughly agree with his recommendations for those wines I've had a chance to try. Seventy-five producers are profiled in depth, with notes and ratings for their wines. There are also guides to Greek grapes (many of which are unfamiliar names) and to all of Greece's regions, including the many island wine areas. For those holidaying in Greece this summer, there is information on visiting, and there's even a selection of wine-friendly Greek food recipes.

Title: The Wines of the South of France, From Banyuls to Bellet
Author: Rosemary George
ISBN: 057119267X
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Price: £30.00 (buy at Amazon -20%)

Wine Pages columnist Rosemary George's new book on the wines of Southern France must have been a delight to research. She confesses to no less than 16 different visits in two years to this beautiful, historic and, above all, exciting wine region. The South has been the most explosively dynamic in France - perhaps Europe - over the past decade or so. This is a heavyweight book; literally with its 750 pages, and conceptually, with its comprehensive cataloguing and comparitively academic approach. There are few illustrations other than maps, and it is not a buying guide as such: no detailed tasting notes of various vintages. What it is, is a beautifully written exploration of the intricacies of the region, its people and the influences that have shaped and are shaping its wine industry. Hundreds of estates, winemakers and wines are lovingly described, and Rosemary's descriptive style conveys her enthusiasm vividly with excursions into history, geography and politics.

Title: The World Atlas of Wine
Editors: Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson
ISBN: 1840003324
Publisher: Mitchell Beazley
Price: £35.00 (buy at Amazon -30% - £24.50)

It is astonishing how many of the truly indispensable wine reference books have been penned by Hugh Johnson or Jancis Robinson. For this new edition of the wine atlas the two have come together, creating a happy blend of erudition, passion and wonderfully clear style. With 30 pages more than its predecessor, there are new and expanded entries, and superb new maps. Completely re-drawn, these alone bear hours of study. The extent of updating since the previous 1994 edition touches all areas of the book. Whilst the entries for some regions, like Madeira, have been tinkered with to reflect a slow-changing scene, others have been completely revised: Chile for example has been re-written from scratch, and, having been summed up in a paragraph in 1994, Argentina now enjoys its own chapter. Old World sections also reflect a decade of change. Some have criticised a bias towards classic European regions. France luxuriates in 101 pages, whereas Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are covered in 22 pages - combined, but this remains an absorbing book

Title: Best Italian Wine
Author: Burton Anderson
ISBN: 0316857033
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co.
Price: £18.99 (buy at Amazon -20%)

This charming little book is very desirable, with numerous illustrations, high-quality paper and a chunky feel in a compact format. It is fairly straightforward in its purpose: to introduce you to Burton Anderson's personal selection of over 200 of the best wines in Italy today. Anderson is undoubtedly one of world's great authorities on Italian wine, and in this most complex wine country it is also a celebration of the vast strides Italian wine has made in the past 20 years or so. It begins with a well-presented introduction to the Italian wine scene, then the vast majority of the book's 450 pages is devoted to double-page spreads on each of his chosen wines. There's a large photo of every bottle, and immensely detailed technical information on vineyards, vinification, serving and cellaring. On the opposite page is a vivid potted-history of the producer and the wine, contact details, vintages, prices and tasting notes.

Title: Concise Wine Companion
Editor: Jancis Robinson
ISBN: 0198662742
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Price: £9.99 (buy at Amazon -20%)

What a brilliantly simple and brilliantly obvious idea, yet no one has thought of it for the past decade! The wine nut's bible that is the Oxford Companion to Wine has been distilled into a handy paperback size that doesn't give you a hernia trying to lift it, yet retains its comprehensive authority. In the preface Jancis says editing down the original work was a formidible task, but it has been done very successfully. A large part of this has been the complete removal of the sections on wine-based spirits (brandy, eau-de-vie, etc) and fortified wines (sherry, port, etc). This leaves the book to cover the world of wine and winemaking in detail. Conclusions: Great idea beautifully executed. At under a tenner, an absolute must-have.

Title: Essential Winetasting Author: Michael Schuster ISBN: 1840002050 Pub: Mitchell Beazley £20.00 (buy at Amazon)

Title: Wine Tasting Workbook Author: Jancis Robinson ISBN: 1840911395 Publisher: Octopus £16.99 (buy at Amazon)

There are differences in approach taken by these authors: Schuster plays it very straight, getting down to business immediately with an explanation of how the book works and what you will learn from reading it. Robinson, on the other hand, sets out to entertain as well as educate: "drinking wine is a lot more fun than reading about it...this is a book for the thirsty". Essential Winetasting is a large-book, liberally illustrated with photographs and maps. It has extensive information on wine-making, geography and understanding labels, but the bulk of the book is focused on equipping the reader with winetasting skills: identifying faults; words to describe wines; training your palate to recognise sweetness, acidity and alcohol. The book finishes on a high-note, with a set of nine tasting practices using a selection of recommended wines. The Wine Tasting Workbook also contains much general reference material on wine grapes, styles, etc. but whilst Schuster's book treats these as a scene-setting exercise, this book is more integrated in its approach. For example, in the section on the Riesling grape, theoretical explanations of the grape's character are married to practical tasting tasks which illuminates the theory through sniffing and sipping. The book is peppered with tasting practices and games, fine llustration and photography. Both are recommended.

Title: The Oxford Companion to Wine
Editor: Jancis Robinson
ISBN: 0-198-662-36X
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Price: £40.00

I remember Jancis Robinson wearily admitting that the first edition of this book had totally consumed 5 years of her life. I imagine the extensive updates (over 500 brand new entries and all remaining text completely revised) has taken a fair chunk of the years since. This is an absolute bible for the serious wine enthusiast. More than 3,000 entries cover every aspect of wine, from history and evolution, to viticulture, to explanations of the most obscure technical wine terms. Everything is imbued with a tremendous sense of authority but carries a lightness of touch that bears testimony to Robinson's vast knowledge and ability to distil and present complex subjects clearly and concisely. The book is fully illustrated with maps, technical diagrams and photographs. It is always digestible, despite the minute detail which some subjects deserve, and are given.

Title: Winetasting (How to Approach and Appreciate Wine)
Author: Michael Broadbent
ISBN: 1-84000-091-0
Publisher: Mitchell Beazley
Price: £8.99 (buy at Amazon)

This is the classic wine-tasting reference book, regularly revised since the 1968 first edition. Broadbent's astute judgement and legendary palate has been proved in the harsh light of the commercial world, latterly as Chairman of Christie's International Wine Department. Information is densely packed into this little book to form a comprehensive, methodical guide to the subject. It is a detailed instruction manual that covers every aspect of organising a tasting event, from checklists of equipment, to suggested pouring orders, to the design of tasting-note sheets. Subjects such as scoring systems and blind-tasting are explored in depth. A superb reference point for beginner and expert alike.

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