Brief reviews of two very different new wine books.
The 9th edition of The World Atlas of Wine is released today and it is an event worth celebrating. Much has changed in the wine world since 2019, when the 8th edition appeared. The new edition works hard to catch up and to look ahead, too, since the changes made now must remain relevant for the next few years.
The first duty of an atlas is to supply useful, interesting maps. Hugh Johnson, the founding author of this project, reports that it was often challenging to find any sort of maps for some wine regions back when he was creating the first (1971) atlas edition. But he did it and things have gotten better and better map-wise in the following years.
Julia Harding has taken over the map side of the project and has delivered an impressive collection of 240 detailed maps (18 of them new to this edition). That’s 240 maps within the book’s 432 pages! Add in the many photos and illustrations and you get a sense of the density of the visual information included here.
The maps might be what draws you into The World Atlas of Wine, but the text will hold you tight. Jancis Robinson and her talented team of regional specialists have thoroughly revised both the introductory material and each entry, too. The revisions are thoughtful, timely, and perhaps more thorough than you might imagine given the vast scope of this project.
If I have to single out one element for particular praise it must be climate change. Climate change shows up in its own introductory section along with a graph showing rising temperature trends and a map projecting changes in the geographic range of suitable Chardonnay vineyards. It shows up in expanded coverage of English and Welsh wine, where the effect of climate change is clear, and in a new section on Northern Europe that maps vineyards in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.
Climate change analysis is also seamlessly integrated into many of the individual country sections. You might not buy the book for its climate change coverage, but you can’t really avoid learning about and appreciating the importance of the topic.
The World Atlas of Wine is a vital reference for anyone interested in wine … or the world! The 9th edition invites and rewards detailed study. I can’t wait (although I will have to) to see what stories the 10th edition will have to tell.
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New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov recently asked “Have we forgotten wine’s place at the table?” and it is a timely question. Although we tend to think in the European way of wine and food as natural partners, that link is breaking down. It’s a problem for wine in general since it affects sales and a particular problem with what you might call “culinary wines” that really need food to show their potential.
Charlotte Kristensen’s new book Wine & Dine at Home wants to give readers the tools they need to discover or re-discover the magic of food with wine and wine with food. The book is organized in three parts called Discover, Pair, and Curate. I’d call them Theory, Practice, and Party.
Theory presents some principles for food and wine pairing. Brief sections explore Wine & Salt, Wine & Acidity, Wine & Fat, and so forth. Which wines work (and don’t work) with which properties. It gets a little complicated at times (most foods don’t have just one property, for example), but I like the way it encourages readers to think carefully about the properties of the foods and how they match or don’t match with wines.
The second section, which is the one that jumps out at you when you pick up the book, puts the theory into practice with 50 recipes and wine pairings. That’w where the “easy recipes & perfect pairings” subtitles come in.
Sue and I found that our attention was naturally drawn to the colorful recipe section, which takes up nearly half of the book. It was good to see specific pairing suggestions, but we had mixed reactions. Some pairings were very innovative and thought-provoking (although a few called for wines or ingredients that might be hard to get). Other combinations were almost clichés: Napa Cab and steak, Malbec and smash burger. Still we found a lot of ideas to inspire home experiments, probably starting with a tomato, bean, and squid stew paired with Barbera.
The final section suggests themed food/wine menus. I especially like the suggestion for a sort of tapas party. Lots of ideas here.
This book obviously isn’t going to reverse the growing gap between wine as food and wine as drink, but it might help. And the wine industry needs all the help it can get right now!