The holidays are a great time to give someone you know a book and an even better time to sit down (with a glass of wine) and read one yourself. Wine books are especially welcome this time of year because, well, they are wine books, so how can they not be interesting and fun?

Here are the books we’ve reviewed at The Wine Economist this year. Any of them would make a great gift to that special person. All of them are good reads and worthy of your attention.

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Caro Feely, Glass Half Full: The Ups and Downs of Vineyard Life in France (Summersdale, 2017). The next chapter in the saga of a family who move to France, buy a vineyard,  and struggle to find success and happiness.

Cracking Croatian Wine: A Visitor-Friendly Guide, by Dr. Matthew Horkey and Charine Tan (Exotic Wine Travel). Everything you always wanted to know about Croatian wine but were afraid to ask. A worthy addition to this series of exotic wine guides.

Warren Moran, New Zealand Wine: The Land, the Vines, and the People (Hardie Grant, 2017). A survey of the Kiwi wine industry and its history by someone who has lived through that country’s double wine revolution.

John Schreiner, Icon: Flagship Wines from British Columbia’s Best Wineries (Touchwood Editions, 2017). A guide to British Columbia’s best wines and wineries by the dean of B.C. wine-writing.

Wine Myths & Reality by Benjamin Lewin (Vendage Press). New edition of Lewin’s big book about global wine an how it is changing. Indispensable.

Benjamin Lewin MW, Guides to Wines & Top Vineyards Series. (Vendage Press). A series of very useful and intelligent guides to select wine regions. Unusual analytical depth and detail.

Patrick Alexander’s The Booklovers’ Guide to Wine: A Celebration of the History, Mysteries, and the Literary Pleasures of Drinking Wine (Mango). Irresistible survey of  wine with something for everyone — novice to expert.

Sarah Lohman, Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine. Simon & Schuster, 2016. Not a wine book, but reading about how American food has been transformed might make you think about American wine differently.

Patrick J. Comiskey,  American Rhône: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink (University of California Press). Comiskey charts the rise and fall and hopeful rise again of Syrah and other Rhone grape varieties in the U.S.

And last but not least, my new book  Around the World in Eighty Wines (Rowman & Littlefield). Now you know why this post is filed under “Shameless Self-Promotion). Happy reading!