Favourite books on wine
Here are a few of my favourite books about wine and wine storage. They discuss wine fraud, personal memories, well-known historical and contemporary wine figures, and wine humour.
In Vino Duplicitas
A spotlight is cast on the world of costly, excellent wines in Vino Duplicitas. It chronicles the life of Rudy Kurniawan, a driven young Indonesian immigrant who lost his appeal for selling phony expensive wines at auctions where he had won millions of dollars.
The book details his ascent and decline and how he managed to scam wealthy MIT-educated billionaires and knowledgeable wine lovers. In addition, it exhibits a thorough understanding of wine bottle storage, including renowned wineries, vineyards, high-roller auctions, and upscale drinking establishments.
The Billionaire’s Vinegar
In The Billionaire’s Vinegar, Thomas Jefferson, the country’s founding father, residing in Paris at the time, is said to have purchased a Bordeaux 1st growth. The wine was allegedly “discovered” two hundred years later and sold at auction for a record sum in 1985. The book takes the reader into the world of collecting expensive wines and the risk of fakes. Unfortunately, this book is no longer accessible in the UK due to a successful legal action.
The Emperor of Wine
This book traces the career of Robert M. Parker Jr., the most well-known and divisive wine critic in the world, who has controlled the global wine industry for the past 30 years and revolutionized how wines are produced, distributed, and discussed. Parker is compared to Ralph Nader and Julia Child by his crowds of admirers. His many adversaries see him as a self-appointed wine judge determined to boil down wine to a two-digit sum. Despite several magazine and newspaper profiles, he continues to be a controversial figure. Is he a devoted wine drinker who brought about a significant improvement in the wine’s quality?
The Widow Clicquot
One of the most renowned champagne companies in the world has a fascinating history. In Reims, France, Barb-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin was born into luxury. When she was 27 years old, her husband died abruptly, leaving their modest wine brokerage on the edge of bankruptcy. Nevertheless, she made the company may be the most significant champagne house of the nineteenth century in the next ten years and offered technological advancements that have persisted to this day. As a result, she grew to be one of the most renowned and wealthy businesspeople in all of Europe.
Adventures on the Wine Route
In contrast to the full-bodied, rich wines that the critics favoured during the 1980s and 1990s, Kermit Lynch is a US wine trader specializing in French wines with lighter styles, smaller production, and expressive flavours. Lynch wrote “Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France” in 1988, maybe in response to the fashions of the moment.
The book details his journeys around the main wine-producing areas of France, including the Loire, Bordeaux, Provence, Beaujolais, Chablis, and the Rhone, in search of wines to purchase. He attempts to capture the soul of the wine industry in his narrative and creates vivid images of the numerous vintners he encounters.