Essential Reading For Wine Lovers
Directions
OK, this is hard to say, but, as you may already suspect, WineDown’s weekly wine tales – wit and wisdom in equal measure (okay, 60:40) – are not the full story. There’s a wonderful world of Wine Lit out there just waiting to be lovingly devoured, like a well-chosen bottle of wine. So, whether you want to exercise your inner wine geek; indulge your love of history; or are simply in it for the laughs, there’s a tome, a novel, or a damn good blog for you. This week, WineDown celebrates the best of them...
SCHOLARLY WRITERS
James
It seems only right and fair to begin at home, and who could overlook the extraordinary contribution of James Halliday to Australian wine and wine writing? For more than 30 years, Australia’s most respected wine critic has been releasing his annual guide to Australian Wine: the Halliday Wine Companion. Well, that’s what James calls it. WineDown calls it Indispensable. Our 2021 edition is already bent and dog-eared.
Jancis
UK wine authority, Jancis Robinson, is the one wine writer WineDown could not live without. Knowledgeable on a global scale, and staggeringly prolific, Jancis is a veritable fount of wine knowledge. Her website jancisrobinson.com is laden with info (much of it free), and she has also authored countless reference books. When you’re ready to step it up, The Oxford Companion to Wine, of which she is editor, is the go-to reference book for sommeliers and industry pros (warning: it’s not for beginners!). Jancis also co-authors (with Hugh Johnson) The World Atlas of Wine – a fabulous, hard cover reference book chock-a-block with info, maps, a concise history of wine, tips on how to store it, serve it, and generally get into it. The Atlas is now in its 8th edition, which alone speaks to its success, and critics say it’s the “most authoritative wine reference work available”. Jancis calls it: “Geography in a bottle”.
Karen
If you’re game enough to name your book The Wine Bible, you’d better have the chops to follow through. US writer Karen MacNeil is one of the most awarded wine writers in the world. She has a profound global wine knowledge, and a nifty turn of phrase to boot. It’s not everyone who’d think to compare grippy tannins to “Clint Eastwood's five-o'clock shadow”. And how about this little beauty: “The best way to learn nothing about wine is to continue to drink what you already know you like.” Respect.
SPECIALISTS
History
A paleoanthropologist and a molecular biologist walk into a bar. You’ll never guess what happens next. Oh – you guessed. But maybe the bit that you didn’t expect is that their book, A Natural History of Wine, is a surprisingly good read. Pinot loving polymaths, Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle, delve into more areas of science than WineDown knew existed; then throw in insights from the Humanities for good measure, as they chow down on the question “what can science tell us about wine?” And vice versa. Ecology, Physiology, Microbiology, Neurobiology, Anthropology, Primatology, Entomology - and Neolithic Archaeology: the nerdy boys leave no ology unturned in their quest for enlightenment. It’s even got nice pictures.
Judgment
If you’re looking for something a little less technical, The Judgment of Paris is a fascinating and sometimes hilarious account of the historic 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. Writer George Taber was the only reporter present at the famous (or infamous, depending on which side of the Atlantic you occupy) event where a panel of top French wine experts shocked the industry, and themselves, by choosing unknown Californian wines over France's finest in a blind tasting. Perfect for when you want to indulge in a little schadenfreude at the expense of the French old guard.
Champagne
Know any fizz-lovers? Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of the Iconic Region is a fascinating look at the world’s most sought-after – yet misunderstood – wine. US wine writer Peter Liem (now a Champagne resident) gained unprecedented access to growers and producers to produce his magnum opus. Fittingly, the book is presented as a luxury box set, including a pull-out tray replete with vintage vineyard maps. An awesome gift when a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal is simply not enough...
INTOXICATING READS AND JUICY STORIES
Stalin’s Wine Cellar
It’s hard to decide what the best thing is about Stalin’s Wine Cellar. Is it the fact that Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, had a multi-million-dollar wine collection that included dozens of bottles of 150+ year old French first growths? Is it the fact that, upon his execution, the collection became the property of the Russian state? Or how a nervous Stalin secreted the stash in a secret underground location somewhere in Georgia to protect it from the advancing Germans? How ‘bout this: that a comprehensive catalogue of the wine collection somehow surfaced in a Sydney wine store in the late 1990s – prompting a couple of Aussie wine merchants to embark on a hair-raising adventure to confirm the existence of the collection and try to buy it? It’s a wild and rollicking TRUE story, written by John Baker and Nick Place.
Wine and War
Also, on the theme of protecting precious wines from plundering invaders, is this wonderful account by Don and Petie Kladstrup - Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure. It’s a thrilling (and harrowing) account of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring, and often dangerous measures to save their cherished wines as the Germans closed in on them during WW2 – the only time in French history when ‘wine’ and ‘resist’ have been used in the same sentence.
Billionaire’s Vinegar
The final instalment in our trilogy of true tales is The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace. It’s the story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux, supposedly once owned by Thomas Jefferson, that sold for $156,000 at auction. This is a genre-flipping Wine Noir whodunnit, set in a world of heiresses, celebrities, rogues, bankers, tomb raiders, dilettantes, villains, Arab potentates, and millionaires. As the tale darkens, the cast expands to include forensic scientists, glass and handwriting experts, Jefferson scholars, FBI agents and, ultimately, federal court judges. Truth is stranger than fiction.
THE FINAL WORD
There are too many fabulous wine writers for this tiny column to do justice to them all. But we’d like to leave you with some words of wisdom from Kiwi sommelier-turned-wine-writer, Curtis Marsh - whose iconic website, The Wandering Palate is a favourite of sommeliers everywhere. “Life”, says Curtis, “is filling in time between meals… and a meal without wine could only be breakfast.”
As WineDown has often asserted, this will continue to hold true until an ideal wine match for Sultana Bran has been identified. Sommeliers, please note.