Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours

Winner of the James Beard Award for Best Beverage Book, Named "Best Drinks Book" by Wine & Spirits magazine, Faiveley International Wine Book of the Year, OIV Best Viticulture Book

"A fantastic Christmas present for any wine geek, and one that will provide an endless source of fiendish questions for quiz-setters" --The Guardian

An indispensable book for every wine lover, from some of the world's leading wine experts.

Where do wine grapes come from and how are grape varieties related to one another? What is the historical background of each one? Where are they grown? What sort of wines do they make?

Using cutting-edge DNA analysis and detailing almost 1,400 distinct grape varieties, as well as myriad correct (and incorrect) synonyms, this book examines grapes and wine as never before. Here is a complete, alphabetically presented profile of all grape varieties of relevance to the wine lover, charting the relationships between them and including unique and astounding family trees, their characteristics in the vineyard, and--most important--what the wines made from them taste like.

Presented in a stunning design with eight-page gatefolds that reveal the family trees, and a rich variety of full-color illustrations from Viala and Vermorel's century-old classic ampelography, the text will deepen readers' understanding of grapes and wine with every page. Combining Jancis Robinson's worldview and nose for good writing and good wines with Julia Harding's research, expertise, and attention to detail plus Dr. Vouillamoz's unique level of scholarship, Wine Grapes offers essential and original information in greater depth and breadth than has ever been available before. This is a book for wine students, wine experts, and wine lovers everywhere.

Jancis Robinson is a Master of Wine, the Financial Times wine writer, and the author/editor of dozens of wine books, including The Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine. Her award-winning website, www.JancisRobinson.com, has subscribers in more than 100 countries.

Julia Harding, a Master of Wine, linguist, and fastidious editor, is Jancis Robinson's full-time assistant and associate palate. In this book, she has gathered the most up-to-date statistics about wine-grape plantings in every corner of the planet as well as unearthing recommended wine producers for almost every grape variety.

José Vouillamoz worked with the groundbreaking team of grape geneticists at the University of California, Davis, and is a botanist and grape expert with an international reputation.