What’s reliable yet fun to read? What’s indispensable?
We may inhabit a dominantly online (dis)information environment, but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise considering how frequently new wine books keep appearing. I wouldn’t pretend to have read even one tenth of them. But I have read excerpts from at least that large a share, and many of the authors are familiar to me, if not personally (though that is true of several dozen), then from others of their publications. I therefore make so bold as to not only suggest books that offer expert guidance plus inspiration, but to suggest that among book-length publications in English, it would be a shame your spending time with any others on wine before making use of those I recommend. That there are only forty-one of them – and quite a few out of print – I hope in itself tells you something about what’s out there generally. (Though, naturally, I’ll update this list whenever another exceptional wine book comes to my attention.)
Yes, quite a few of the titles I’ve listed are out of print, and obtaining some of them might even demand serious used-book searching. They’re on my list because they’re still invaluable – and, in fact, quite a few of them unfortunately represent the only thoroughly commendable books to treat their respective subject matters. Many of the authors in question would happily produce a new edition but cannot interest publishers. If a book heavily features wine estate profiles, wine laws, and recent trends and these have all changed significantly since it was published, then I have generally not included it on my list. Also, even seminal and still insight-rich books – for example, Matt Kramer’s 1990 Making Sense of Burgundy and the 1995 edition of Anthony Hanson’s Burgundy – have been excluded because an outstanding subsequent publication – in this case, Jasper Morris’s Inside Burgundy – is not just more up-to-date, but largely fills the same need.
Wine Guides and General Reference
While I have to hope you’ll believe me (and that you’ll eventually concur ;- ) when I claim that none of these books can substitute for my “Wines of the World 101” and “… 102” courses, at least believe me that among the hundreds of books purporting to guide you through the entire world of wine, these are the ones worth having and returning to. In fact, the first three below – at least one of which would make an excellent doorstop – are the first wine books in which to invest, before you even consider buying others.
Jancis Robson & Hugh Johnson, The World Atlas of Wine 8th edition (Mitchell Beazley 2019)
Hugh Johnson first published his Atlas in 1971, and ever since, there has been nothing worth substituting. Yes, it’s a reference book – but in keeping with Johnson’s (and now also Robinson’s) nature, it’s also a lovely read. (Subscribers to jancisrobinson.com can access the Atlas’s excellent maps online.)
Janis Robinson, Julia Harding & Tara Thomas (editors), The Oxford Companion to Wine 5th edition
(Oxford University Press 2023)
You’ll often see this huge tome (indeed, right on its dust jacket ;- ) referred to as “the most complete reference book on wine” or words to that effect. And who am I to argue, given that I’m the expert tasked with writing the book’s copious entries concerning Austrian and German wine? (Subscribe to jancisrobinson.com and you can save yourself the doorstop by accessing the 4,000 OCW5 entries – ranging from a few lines to multi-page essay – online.)
Karen MacNeil, The Wine Bible 3rd Edition (Workman Publishing 2022)
Among “wine guides” in the traditional sense, MacNeil’s is in a class of its own, and luckily has been very recently as well as extensively updated.
Hugh Johnson & Stephen Brook Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion 6th Edition (Mitchell Beazley 2009)
For a short, snappy guide, this is the standout, despite an updated edition being overdue.
Hugh Johnson & Margaret Rand (editors) Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2024 (Mitchell Beazley – Octopus 2024)
The emphasis in this thin, narrow (I mean physically ;- ) annually-updated book first published in 1978 is entries on wine types and those producers who best exemplify them, but there is always coverage of the latest trends and growing seasons, all written by local authorities.
Matt Kramer, Making Sense of Wine 2nd edition (Running Press 2004)
Kramer’s way of framing wine seems less original today than in 2004 only because of the extent to which – either directly or indirectly – he has influenced nowadays dominant presuppositions.
Oz Clarke, Oz Clarke on Wine (Academie Du Vin Library 2021)
Oz is among the most entertaining and amusing among wine writers, and in his case that goes hand in hand with a genuinely journalistic nose for detail, accuracy, and word-smithing.
Benjamin Lewin, Wine Myths and Reality 2nd edition (Vendange Press 2017)
A molecular biologist by training who has achieved the status of Master of Wine, Lewin is a fellow-columnist with The World of Fine Wine, in whose pages the two of us sometimes exchange views. This myth-busting book reflects an unorthodox perspective on wine (as do my courses ;- )
Personal Wine Journeys and Wine in Larger Context
When I write “larger context” I have in mind principally cultural and philosophical. Here is also where (in addition to books of Hugh Johnson’s recommended elsewhere on this list) you’ll find some of the most eloquent testimonies ever penned to wine’s capacity for inspiring and reawakening wonder (Θαυμάζειν ;- ) Among these, Reading Between the Wines by Terry Theise – one of my own mentors – is also highly recommended as a supplement to those books that received my top billing as “Wine Guides.”
Dwight Furrow, Beauty and the Yeasts (Probe Head Publications 2020)
This represents a serious attempt at embedding wine in a customized aesthetic theory, so if you’re unused to reading philosophical analysis, you might find it tough going. But perseverance will be rewarded. My review of this book in The World of Fine Wine is currently out in front of that journal’s paywall, so have a look!
Andrew Jeffords, Drinking with the Valkyries (Academie Du Vin Library 2022)
Nobody, with the possible exception of Hugh Johnson, writes as beautifully about wine as does Jeffords, and in this compilation you’ll find many of his most memorable and insight-rich columns from the fifteen years preceding. (Not that Jeffords’ output from before that or since publication is any less impressive. His columns appear among other places in Decanter Magazine and The World of Fine Wine.)
Kermit Lynch, Adventures on the Wine Route 1st or “25th anniversary” edition (MacMillan 1988, 2013)
American importer Kermit Lynch has exercised a profound influence on nearly every aspect of contemporary commerce in – as well as writing about – wine, and this book telling how he got started became an instant classic. (The “25th anniversary” updates are nice, but not essential. Most of what Lynch has written about wine was in order to sell it, and a lot is archived on the website of his company, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant.)
Lawrence Osborne, The Accidental Connoisseur (MacMillan 2005)
Osborne’s “Irreverent Journey through the world of wine” was bound to go down as an instant classic. Writing in the Financial Times, Jancis Robinson told you all you should really need as inducement: “Possibly the most entertaining book about wine ever written .. .”
Terry Theise, Reading Between the Wines (University of California Press 2011)
Best known as a pioneering promoter and importer of estate-bottled wines from Austria, Germany and Champagne, Theise offers insights into wine found nowhere else (at least, until he propounded them), delivered in an inimitable and engaging style.
Matt Kramer on Wine (Sterling Epicure 2010)
This is a selection of Kramer’s always insightful as well as entertaining wine columns which have now spanned five decades, including from 1985-2018 with the Wine Spectator.
Guides by Country, Region or Type
If a country or region is missing below, it’s because, on balance, I think your best guide (as well as a very recently updated one) is the Oxford Companion to Wine entries. On that basis, I’ve omitted mentioning some quite good recent books, some written by friends of mine, and some of which I have published favorable or even laudatory reviews. Also omitted are, among out of print books, any whose contents are too dominated by now outdated coverage of wine estates, wine laws, and no-longer-recent growing seasons.
Charles Sullivan, A Companion to California Wine (University of California Press 1998)
While this self-styled encyclopedic reference book is in some respects out of date, its strong points are in matters historical, technical and geographical that remain timely.
Jon Bonné, The New California Wine (Ten Speed – Penguin Random House 2013)
Bonné, a brilliant writer (and astute taster) who was wine editor and chief wine critic for the San Francisco Chronicle from 2006-2015, offers an account of California’s recent wine evolution that’s weighted toward coverage of innovators and mavericks.
Paul Gregutt, Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide (University of California Press 2010)
While coverage of wineries in this volume is a bit outdated, interested readers can follow up on Gregutt’s website PaulG on Wine as well as on Sean Sullivan’s Northwest Wine Report. (If there is ever to be a book-length updated account of Washington State wines, it’s likely to issue from one of those two Washington natives.)
John Winthrop Haeger, Pacific Pinot Noir (University of California Press 2008)
I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend a book covering Oregon wine as a whole. But Haeger’s Pinot-centric volume will have to do, and it is also loaded with insights into this grape that don’t go out-of-date.
Andrew Jeffords, The New France (Mitchell Beazley 2002)
Here’s an exception to my rule: That this volume is in many respects outdated is part of its value (on top of Jeffords’ evocative writing and many insights that aren’t out of date). It testifies to hugely important late 20th century changes in the world’s most influential wine producing country, and makes for a fascinating contrast in tone and perspective to Jon Bonné’s recent two-volume compendium. (See just below).
Jon Bonné, The New French Wine (Ten Speed – Penguin Random House 2023)
You will probably never purchase a book that weighs more than does this two-volume account of La France Viticole. Bonné’s highly opinionated coverage stresses mavericks and growers trying to rediscover the roots of French wine prowess. Volume two brings profiles of a highly selective mix of producers, each informed by a wealth of experience with both the growers personally and their wines, such as I doubt anyone worldwide can match. My review of this book in The World of Fine Wine is currently out in front of that journal’s paywall, so have a look!
Jacqueline Friedrich, The Wines of France (Ten Speed 2006)
Would that this concise, deliciously-written, highly-opinionated but superbly-informed guide to French wine from an ex-pat resident could have enjoyed the subsequent editions it deserved. But Friedrich is so insightful, and her profiles of wine estates as yet outdated to such a modest extent, that it still merits attention.
Jacqueline Friedrich, The Wine and Food Guide to the Loire (Holt 1998); Earthly Delights from the Garden
of France – Wines of the Loire Volume One (Lulu Press 2011)
Once again, the value of Friedrich’s insights overrides the fact that her detailed estate profiles – not to mention her exceptionally detailed tasting notes – are increasingly outdated. She embarked on a successor to her 1998 Guide but, alas, only got as far as volume one, covering the Eastern Loire or, as she styled it, “The Kingdom of Sauvignon.”
Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy 2nd edition (Berry Bros. & Rudd Press 2021)
Here’s this famed region in a nutshell from someone who didn’t just have a ringside seat for the late 20th century revolution in Burgundy quality but did much to help bring it about. (What does it say about the state of publishing that this second edition was published by the merchant house for which Morris now works?) My review of this book in its first edition in The World of Fine Wine is currently out in front of that journal’s paywall, so have a look! And if you get really into Burgundy, Allen Meadow’s Burghound is the most comprehensive and awesomely well-informed specialist journal covering any place in the entire wine world.
John Livingstone-Learmonth, The Wines of the Northern Rhône (University of California Press 2005)
Seldom if ever has there been a more well-informed or painstakingly executed book covering any portion of the wine world. An anticipated follow-up volume on the Southern Rhône never materialized, but you can find constantly updated coverage of the entire Rhône at Livingston-Learmonth’s website drinkrhone.com.
Wink Lorch, Wines of the Jura (Wine Travel Media 2014; with supplemental volume Jura Wine Ten Years
On Academie Du Vin Library 2024 )
One reason I just wrote “seldom” (immediately above) is because here is another guide to a wine region whose wealth of information and painstaking design are rare indeed. What’s more, the original has just been updated via a companion volume. Is the Jura esoteric? In more than one respect, yes. But this book will have you dying to explore its unique and wonderful wines.
Wink Lorch Wines of the French Alps (Wine Travel Media 2019)
Just read (mutatis mutandis) my observations above concerning Lorch’s Jura book. (The only point above not relevant here is that there has been no update to this more recent volume.) My review of this book in The World of Fine Wine is currently out in front of that journal’s paywall, so have a look!
Peter Liem, Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines (Ten Speed – Penguin Random House 2017)
I have to repeat myself almost verbatim: One reason I wrote “seldom” twice above is because here is another guide to a wine region whose wealth of information and painstaking design are rare and extraordinary. The maps that occupy a separate berth in the slipcase rendered an unprecedented service. My review of this book for The Art of Eating is currently available online. Updates on this rapidly evolving winegrowing region and its constantly expanding pool of youthful winegrowing talent can be gleaned via Liem’s website ChampagneGuide.net. (Liem no longer resides in Champagne, but still spends a great deal of time there.)
Sue Style, The Landscape of Swiss Wine (Bergli Books 2022)
You may not have occasion to drink much Swiss wine unless you visit the country, because so much of the best gets drunk-up there never to be exported. But I hope that situation is being at least slightly alleviated, and this little book, published shortly before Style’s tragically early death, will leave you thinking (quite correctly) that Switzerland’s worth visiting even for its wines alone.
John Winthrop Haeger, Riesling Rediscovered: Bold, Bright, and Dry (University of California Press 2016)
Early this century, Haeger – with outstanding books on American wine to his credit – became so fascinated with Riesling that he ended up writing this remarkably fact-filled as well as passionate (and opinionated) guide.
Ian D’Agata, Italy’s Native Wine Grape Terroirs (University of California Press 2019)
D’Agata – who was long a colleague of mine at Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar and Vinous – is one of the most intimidatingly well-informed and intelligent, yet totally affable writers anywhere, about wine from virtually any growing region. But his specialty is his native Italy. This comprehensive account of that country’s vineyards is a successor to a volume in which D‘Agata profiled each of the country’s hundreds of native grape varieties.
Peter Liem & Jesus Barquin, Sherry, Manzanilla and Montilla (Manutius 2012)
Liem isn’t just an expert in Champagne (see above). He’s also an expert in Sherry, here covered in collaboration with that region’s likely most wine-knowledgeable resident, whose “day job” is as a professor of criminal law, and whose Equipo Navazos project has ushered in a revolution in wine production in this famous region. An expanded edition of this book subsequently appeared in Spanish, but there has been no English-language update (to its authors’ chagrin, as the region has been rapidly and excitingly evolving), and this original might run you $150 or more from a used book seller.
Jane Lopes & Johnathan Ross, How to Drink Australian (Murdoch Books 2023)
Finally, a really thorough and properly-researched guide to Australian wine that, as far as I can tell, is free of any conflict of interest or boosterism such as has cast shadows over some previous efforts.
Woolf, Amber Revolution (Interlink – Simon & Schuster 2018)
Had Woolf titled it “Orange Revolution,” his book would have gone straight to the wrong shelves in stores, as the eponymous upheaval in Ukraine was then very recent history. This is a guide to skin-fermented wines from white (or pale purple) grapes: their long history, the saga of their recent revival, technical details, and a guide to practitioners worldwide. My review of this book in The World of Fine Wine is currently out in front of that journal’s paywall, so have a look!
Technical Treatises
If you are, or turn into, a geek, one symptom is apt to be cravings for technical wine information. I have limited myself to classics and or volumes that presuppose only modest knowledge of chemistry and biology.
Émile Peynaud, The Taste of Wine 2nd edition (John Wiley & Sons 1997)
The most famous wine “doctor” in Bordeaux’s history, Peynaud’s book incorporates approaches to viticulture, vinification, tasting, evaluation and description of wine that have had lasting influence.
Jamie Goode, Wine Science (Mitchell Beazley 2014)
Goode is a prodigious, scientifically trained writer about wine, and while we have our friendly differences arising from some of his many books, this one represents a good introduction not just to what goes on in the cellar, but also to what goes on in the vineyard and in your mouth. (Oddly, some printings of this same edition are titled “The Science of Wine.”)
Clark Smith Postmodern Winemaking (University of California Press 2013)
Another of my wine mentors, Smith is not just full of novel ideas about wine chemistry (as befits his background) but also about the perception of wine.
Alex Maltman, Vineyards, Rocks, & Soils (Oxford Univ. Press 2018)
Maltman rather frustratingly pours cold water on most of what “wine people” pretend to know about the influence of geology (his field) on the taste of wine. But to learn about the most important literal underpinnings of the world’s vineyards, not to mention as a corrective to abundant loose, uninformed talk purporting to connect rocks with “minerality” in wine, this is your go-to. You’ll emerge reasonably versant in geology and soil science (and no doubt proud of the fact ;- ).
Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding & Jose Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes (Echo 2012)
Styling itself “A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours,” this is another in more respects than one heavy reference book. Especially valuable and indeed at the time of publication groundbreaking is the information about grape vine lineage based on DNA profiling of grapes by Vouillamoz, one of the world’s two foremost experts in that field.
History of Wine
I find the history of wine totally absorbing, but have limited myself (with one obvious exception ;- ) to volumes that are broad in scope – and weeded out any that don’t encourage page-turning.
Hugh Johnson The Story of Wine 2nd edition (Academie Du Vin Library 2020)
As an introduction to wine’s global history, this beautifully-written volume is unsurpassed.
Thomas Pinney, A History of Wine in America 2nd edition (University of California Press 2007)
In two volumes, Pinney covers our nation’s history with wine in great detail – such detail that at first glance you might worry that your eyes are going to glaze over. But wait until you start reading!
Dann Woellert, Cincinnati Wine: An Effervescent History (The History Press 2021)
Woellert is probably our best-informed local expert on the birthplace of commercial American viticulture, and his account is full of verifiable anecdotes that will keep you engrossed.