A Wine Miscellany - Graham Harding - ISBN 1-84317-176-6.

Was given this for my umpteenth b/day and I wholeheartedly commend it to you. Contents vary from toasts to labels, and from highest vineyard to maps of the tongue.
One of my favourites...at the start of WW2 the merchant house of Fukier in Warsaw had in stock 328 bottles of 1606 (sic) Tokay. After the war there were none, the passing russian troops had slurped the lot with their rations.

It has given me hours of pleasure.

I once found a copy of The Oxford Companion to Wine, 2nd edition in a charity shop, still in its sleeve and unopened. It cost me £3.99.

That was five years ago. I recently moved on to 'B'.

An excellent reference book nonetheless.

Ah! the other J.R., 'tis a monumental work indeed. I always have mine in my back pocket.

I have the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine.

It's a big book about wine.

It's brought me hours of relief. I pretend to read it every time the wife wants to talk.

So who's a naughty boy then, that's the sort of stuff that gets me into very hot water.
Well, after 35 well spent quaffing years, I invariably get the obligatory pocket book on the most recent world wide vintages for a birthday or Christmas. I'm not complaining, since the advent of computers, the editors do a great job in changing a bit of the info year on year .
I must have at least a dozen or more diff publications.

Guide Hachette is good - but you need to get out the French / English dictionary.

David Peppercorn's Wines of Bordeaux was a stalwart in prior decades, every property had a detailed write up of the cuvee' . Now consortiums keep buying up properties and changing things. For instance GK's Cambon la Pelouse was a property, owned by energetic growers from St-Emilion who made wine that developed quickly, and no casks were used in maturation, it was a good example and how clean and fresh and fruity such a Haut-Medoc can be - He says. But according to GK, it appears that the wine is heavily oaked by a bunch of "Vin du Guarde" investors, who are trying to jump price positioning. I haven't tried the 2005 Cambon, but '05 was tannic, so adding all that oak in maturation may have spoilt the wine.

Cru bourgeois claret was supposed to be enjoyed with pleasure. There is a lot of messing about by investors, which can take natural and subtle beauty away.

The biggest and most heavy is Jancis and Hugh's sixth World Wine Atlas, a great coffee table book, with beautiful photography on fab paper quality. Actually Jancis's writing and opinion of the Cote d'Or wines is excellent, and of the wines I could afford, or have had the pleasure to taste in the past, I agree with her opinion and description.

I leaf through or look up stuff, usually late into the evening, when the Misses has already gone up, or I check out before buying, and doing a few Web checks - the web can be pretty innaccurate when assessing an expensive wine. Many people give a tasting note, before the wine is ready. Some folks just don't analyse the wine correctly.

Such is life

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Duncan

NWR but following G's tale.
Documentary on tv about an american chap who, with his two sons built a huge one-story ranch style home. Tennis courts, 10 car garage, stables etc.
In the basement was a wine cellar, gym, fully-fitted workshop and the powerhouse including emergency generators. The whole lot had a computer controlled climate system and pumps and monitors which kept water at constant temp. and pressure however many/few were using it.
The final inspection from the buildings people and local health & safety was under way. One inspector was trying a thermostat control in the hall. He informed the owner that it appeared not to be working. "Oh it's all right" was the reply,"it's not connected to anything, that's for the wife and guests to play with".

Just checked the Pelouse website to make sure I wasnt imagining all that oak, aged 12months, 50% new oak.

I have this too, a nice book to thumb through.

Ive just finished Hugh Johnson's A Life Uncorked, interesting in parts but ultimately a waffle about his own cellar.

You really are a rotten lot, spending my money this way. Just bought the atlas on line at £12
Talking of size, as everyone knows, it's length that counts (as with cucumbers) and I have "The Companion to Wine" ed. Frank Prial. This tome is 370 x 280 mm (that's 14.5 x 11 ins for the hunter-gatherers) and 370pp..Hah!!

HJ /JR Atlas arrived this morning. I shall read it this evening! It is price-marked at £45 but I got it from Amazon at £14 inc. p&p

Questions of Taste - the philosophy of wine

It has some good ideas. Suggest only for holiday reading as you need to take a run at it. Can lend if anyone wants a go.

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mel

do they do an audio book format ?

Life's Too Short to Drink Bad Wine - S.Hoggard / Quadrille £12.99

Most excellent. Factual, humourous, well presented, and great cartoons.

When I started the MW I read the wine companion from cover to cover. I did 5 columns a day (I think there were 6 to view), by waking up half an hour early. Took quite a few months.

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mel

Now there's dedication for you.

Im still on B.