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Giving the Gift of Knowledge
A bevy of fine new wine books

A friend of mine recently took me to task for being a tad too verbose - too many descriptives; adjectives galore! Let me tell you, it isn’t easy being a wine pundit. There is no question that many tasting notes tend to be mundane and repetitive. How many times can you say that a red is “plummy”? While a simple “Mickey likes it” might suffice, nobody would actually know what it tastes like.

While some might believe that wine is for dummies, I don’t. Intelligent readers want informed, critical comment, not some fluff from an amateur. There is no question that it is fun to drink wine; but its even more rewarding to actually understand what is in the glass. And so, what better time to give the gift of knowledge to your wine loving friends than now. Naturally the biggest challenge is to come up with the right reading material - after all not everybody wants to know the surname of every grape that finds its way into the bottle. There's a bevy of fine new wine books out there.

How to taste

Those wanting to discover how to taste are going to find the Andrew Sharpe classic Winetaster's Secrets (Warwick $26.95) a fine but challenging read. Better to track down remaining copies of Gerard Basset’s well-illustrated and eminently readable The Wine Experience (Whitecap Books  $49.95). My only complaint about these (and other) books is that they award a chunk of marks for appearance. Imagine a superior tasting wine loosing out to a less tasty effort because it didn’t have the same depth of colour. Unless the wine has totally the wrong hue or is seriously cloudy, this simply doesn’t make sense.

What to buy

The just-released, 6th edition of Robert Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide (Simon & Schuster $47.50)) is a must-have for many wine fans. This weighty tome tackles more than 8,000 wines from many but certainly not all wine regions. Whether or not you agree with the evaluations, the Bordeaux and Rhone sections of the book are definitely worthy of a detour. The best place to buy this, or perhaps any of the pricier books mentioned, is at the Chapters-Indigo website (see: www.chapters.indigo.ca) where a 30% discount is available and, even up until recently, free shipping.

You can keep on top of what is happening with a subscription to the world’s most successful wine magazine The Wine Spectator. It lets you feel the pulse of what our friends south of the border feel is important. The cost is $58.85 (U.S.) a year for 17 issues. Call1-800-752-7799.

Beware, both these publications utilize the 100-point system wherein only a higher number counts. It is sad that this numeric curse transforms consumers into lemmings blindly buying wines they may not enjoy. Perhaps these are the same folks who see wine as a fashion statement - drinking the right label is like wearing the right attire.

 Almost every country has wine-buying guides, which vary from so-so to excellent. It is tragic that many are not stocked by Toronto bookstores. How many times have I begged to have a book stocked at the Cookbook  only to have absolutely nothing happen? Take Michael Cooper’s outstanding annual Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines, you will have to contact Helen Howes at helenh@hoddermoa.co.nz to order the upcoming 2003 edition or the just-published New Zealand Wine Atlas.

French wine fans, however, the outstanding detailed 1443-page 2002 Hachette Wine Guide (Sterling $52.95) would be the book of choice. Keep in mind that it will be fully updated next spring.

Where does it come from

For decades Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas of Wine (Mitchell Beazley $75) was the definitive reference book. Indeed, last year’s release of the fifth edition with the able assistance of Jancis Robinson put it back into orbit. It is still an indispensable, user-friendly reference guide, which is especially useful prior to visiting vineyards around the world.

As of last month, its stellar position is being challenged by Oz Clarke's New Wine Atlas (Simon & Schuster $100), which offers unique panoramic relief styled maps that provide a grand aerial tour of the vineyard regions. Unlike the Johnson/Robinson World Atlas, you can’t use these maps to actually drive from one estate to another. You do, however, get a vibrant overview of exactly where the vineyards are located. In other words, having both books is not redundant. My only complain is that I wish Clarke had imposed the regional boundaries and the selected wineries on a larger coloured map as opposed to the smaller black and white versions.

Reference A-Z guides from big to small

The number one source giving you all the answers is still the 1999 edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine (Oxford $89.95) edited by Jancis Robinson. There is also a newer, abridged (only 684 pages), less expensive, soft cover edition called the Jancis Robinson’s Concise Wine Companion available at only $24.95.

As for the numerous pocket guides, such as Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2003 (Mitchell Beazley $19.95) or Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2003 (Simon & Schuster $22.95); they provide general information and a smattering of suggestions, which may or may not be available at the LCBO.

Country/regional guides

There are a huge number of country/regional guides out there. Some are great, others lackluster. One of the best to appear this year is by Paul Strang Languedoc-Roussillon: The Wines & Winemakers (Mitchell Beazley $60.00). This attractive, extremely thorough, region-by-region analysis is complete with producer’s names, e-mail addresses and detailed wine evaluations from the world’s largest up-and-coming wine region. A truly terrific effort.

Spirits Guides

Hot off the press is a tasty, entertaining, glossy called Esquire Drinks (Sterling $38.95) an opinionated and irreverent guide to drinking along with 250 drink recipes. Written by David Wondrich, an ex-English professor with a PhD in comparative literature from New York University, it's well illustrated with lots of information on the evolution of the various spirits “ages” in America.

Here are some additional recommendations that have appeared some of my previous articles: 

From the National Post Saturday, September 14, 2002

Those wishing to bone up on the best of bubblies are advised to pick up a copy of the highly recommended Tom Stevenson’s Champagne & Sparkling Wine Guide (2002 4th edition). I had an extremely difficult time trying to track this quintessential soft cover down, being unable to find a single copy in Toronto. It came out in February of this year, originally by a UK publisher and is now produced by the Wine Appreciation Guild in California. After I started harassing the Canadian distributor three months ago, it has finally shown up at $24.50. The latter is now the pre-discount retail price in Canada, so ignore the $19.95 price printed on the back jacket, which was obviously based on a stronger dollar. Barnes & Noble is charging $19.96 US for it on their website!

This extremely useful 240-page guide provides you with comprehensive, recently-updated tasting notes by Stevenson, who is one of the best, independent, sparkling wine authorities in the world. His previous book Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling is another terrific, albeit slightly out of date volume (published in 2001 and based on notes prepared in 2000), is currently on sale on the Chapters/Indigo website at only $56.66 (regular $80.95).

From the National Post Saturday, July 20, 2002

To discover more about Austrian wines, pick up a copy of Philipp Blom The Wines of Austria ($24.99), which is published by Faber & Faber, 2000. Another idea would be contact the Consulate General of Austria (Birgitta Samavarchian) at 416-967-3348 ext. 18 where a wealth of material on Austrian wines is available.

Best Books ~ Celebrating World Book Day
National Post • Saturday, April 20, 2002
To see the entire article: Press Here

From the National Post Saturday, March 23, 2002

South African sales are now rising, quality-price ratios have improved considerably and much more user-friendly wines are now ending up on the shelves of the LCBO. I commend Vintages for sourcing some decent wines and especially for making the comprehensive, 508-page hard cover, pocket guide John Platter South African Wines 2002 available to customers to view in all 600 LCBO outlets. Now if we could only convince some enterprising Toronto bookseller to sell it, we would be in business.

From the National Post Saturday, March 2, 2002

An Update on Dão - An excellent chart of varieties permitted in Dão (as set out by legislation in 1953, 1973 and 1985) is reproduced from the outstanding book Dão Wines by Virgílio Loureiro and Antonio Homen Cardoso (published July 1993 and part of the Encyclopedia of the Wines of Portugal).

From tasting.ca Saturday, December 8, 2001

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