SWC Reads Special Edition: My Favorite Wine Books
Wine can be enjoyed anywhere from a backyard BBQ or a lazy night in to a fun night out or a formal ten course meal. There is no wrong way to enjoy your wine. That’s something I will always love about wine. At the end of the day, it’s all about your own opinion, palate, and choice; and no one can take that away from you! But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a little something about it, right? I always tell people who come taste with me at the winery that if they didn’t learn something I wasn’t doing my job. Because when it comes to wine education, the possibilities are endless! There’s always some maverick out there putting a new twist on a (seriously very, very) old classic.
Over the years I’ve picked up a pretty large number of wine books and have read them all, usually more than once! They come in all forms, from textbook style collections of information to memoirs, historical accounts, and fictional fluff. They’ve all got something useful to share and I’m more than happy to share them with you!
Wine Folly
Wine Folly comes in two editions, the Essential Guide and the Masters Guide, also known as the Magnum. They’re both brilliantly done encyclopedia style books with some of the prettiest info graphs you’ll ever see and make complex wine information super accessible! They’re perfect no matter if you’re a total wine novice or have been working in the industry for a while.
Adventures On the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch
Following the travels of an American wine merchant in the 1970s and all the people, and wines, he meets along the way to introduce his fellow Americans to a higher standard of wine in a time when that wasn’t what they were necessarily looking for. Not the hero we deserved, but the one we needed.
Secrets of the Sommeliers by Rajat Parr and Jordan MacKay
Written by Master Sommelier Rajat Parr, this is the ultimate insiders’ guide to working in the wine industry and absolutely brilliant for anyone looking to make it in the industry.
Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker
The story of a former technology writer who left her job to pursue her new found goal of becoming a Master Sommelier and all the wild antics she got into as she pursued her goal.
French Lessons by Peter Mayle
A collection of stories of Peter Mayle’s life while living in France, all centered around gastronomic delights. Fair warning, this will make you hungry!
The Sommelier’s Atlas of Taste by Rajat Parr and Jordan MacKay
Another written by Rajat Parr, this one the history of European Wines and everything you may ever need to know about them!
The Judgement of Paris by George Taber
The story of what officially put California wines on the map, written by the only journalist who was there that day. This is also the story you can find behind the movie Bottleshock, staring a young Chris Pine and the eternally classic Alan Rickman.
A Good Year by Peter Mayle
Another by Peter Mayle, this one pure fiction, about a Brit who inherits a French vineyard. Also turned into a film, staring Russel Crowe and Marion Cotillard, though the film and book share very little in common, they’re both wonderfully fun moments of escapism; because who doesn’t want to live in the French countryside?
The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle
Oddly enough this delightful novel about the charming Sam Levitt, a somewhat reformed scoundrel who is tasked with tracking down and retrieving millions of dollars of disappeared wine is what started me off on my own desire to work in the wine industry, though that’s not really what the book is about at all. But Peter Mayle has such a way with describing the wines in the book it makes you want to go pour yourself a glass!
