WineLovers Discussion Group

Four* that stand out for me:

Parker's Buying Guide, 6th Edition: The first wine book that I ever bought - despite the complete lack of notes (or even scores) in the Germany section, it led me deeper into this hobby of sorts, familiarized me with a lot of wines and producers that I had never heard of. I never became the next great hedonist, and don't read it much these days, but it certainly made its impact in my formative years of exploring wine.

The Sotheby's Encyclopedia of Wine, 3rd Edition, by Tom Stevenson: This has been a favorite since I bought it five years ago. While I also own (and like) Jancis' Oxford Encyclopedia, I prefer the format and the approach of this one - it's more accessible, but hardly dumbed down, with valuable overviews of nearly all of the French AOCs and Vins de Pays that existed at the time of its publication.

Opus Vino, Jim Gordon, ed.: Another large book, comprised of very up-to-date overviews of top producers from around the world, even though it has been out for a couple of years now. Most of the contributing authors are lesser-known, younger, yet highly knowledge and credible up-and-comers.

Pretty much anything by Stephen Brook: Stephen is my favorite wine writer. His Liquid Gold got me heavily into sweet wines several years ago, and I have also really enjoyed his books on Sauternes and German wines, and his articles for Decanter magazine. (For someone who thinks that Decanter's focus on Bordeaux is hugely excessive, anything that Stephen writes on Bordeaux is a must-read for me.)

I just finished Terry Theise's "Reading Between the Wines" and this by far has been the most inspiring and fun to read wine book for me yet. He is incredibly poetic and also transparent. I love how he pours his heart out about his passion and doesn't give a $&*^# about what anyone else thinks. (Not to mention that the wines he sources are AMAZING!)

Also loved Jancis' "Tasting Pleasure" and Kermit's "Adventures on the Wine Route".

It has to be the books which I read in the early days of my wine interest which had the most influence. The first in the late 50s, which alas I have lost, was André Simon's Vintagewise, which evoked the magic of mainly Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne and port vintages back to the 1850s. Rather more recently, early 70s, came Hugh Johnson's wonderful World Atlas of Wine and Larousse des Vins with fine photos and exploration of some lesser known French regions.

I continue to buy wine books but none now have the formative effect of the three mentioned above.

I couldn't get along without Jancis Robinson's The Oxford Companion to Wine. No, I take that back. I couldn't get along without the latest edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine.

Robinson has brought the wine encyclopedia thing a long way from back when I was living with various editions of Alexis Lichines Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits, which now look amateurish by comparison.

Jay Labrador wrote:I can no longer remember the title but it was a pocketbook introduction to wine in my parents' library. One of the first wine books I ever bought was The New Frank Schoonmaker Encyclopedia of Wine. A pretty good encyclopedia and I particularly appreciated the phonetic pronunciation guide for each entry.

I could still use that phonetic pronunciation guide!

There are so many, it's hard to choose:

Barolo: Tar and Roses by Michael Garner and Paul Merrit for the understanding of Barolo that led to the six seminars I ran on the Barolo communes.

Italy's Noble Red Wines by Sheldon and Pauline Wasserman, for the detailed information on particular producers and vintages that guided me in purchasing wines for the seminars (and my pewrsonal cellar). Alas it's long out of date.

Michael Broadbent's Great Vintage Wine Book, Volumes I and II, for the detailed tasting notes on older wines that I picked up at auction.

probably my checkbook