The Best Wine Books to Pour Into

I love this book! It’s a history lesson on WWII and wine… In 1940, France fell to the Nazis and almost immediately the German army began pillaging the French wine regions. Wine and War tells the thrilling story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their crops and bottles (along with many who  undermined the Germans).

The book also helps to explain a lot about how the rules and regulations of French wine came to be and to some extent why they’re still in place today. (Love French Novels…check out 44 must reads!)

Looking for a page turner, this is it! The Winemakers Wife became an instant #1 bestseller from The Globe and Mail (Toronto) and The Toronto Star and for good reason. It’s an amazing story of love, betrayal, war and finding yourself all wrapped into one. The story follows three women, two of whom are married to winemakers during WWII in Champagne. The other, a newly divorced woman who journeys back to France in 2019 with her grandmother only to learn her involvement in the war efforts in Champagne. While this book doesn’t necessarily teach you how to sip and swirl, it does a great job sharing how wine has shaped lives and countries, especially those in France.

This is not a book you just sit down to read. This could literally be considered THE ULTIMATE wine encyclopedia. Written by the highly esteemed, Jancis Robinson, the book has achieved worldwide acclaim and won every major wine book award including the Glenfiddich and Julia Child/IACP awards. In this in-depth book, Robinson provides an understanding of wine in all of its wider contexts–notably historical, cultural, and scientific. It serves as a true companionable point of reference into which any winelover can sip in.

Like a lively course from an expert teacher, The Wine Bible grounds readers deeply in the fundamentals of wine regions, while layering on informative asides, tips, amusing anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, photos, maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Karen MacNeil’s information comes directly through primary research; she has tasted more than 10,000 wines and visited dozens of wine regions around the world. And through it all the reader becomes ever more informed—and, because of the author’s unique voice, always entertained.

Wine Folly offers an inventive, easy-to-digest approach to learning about wine. Now in a new, expanded hardcover edition, Wine Folly: Magnum Edition is a great resource for any budding oenophile who wants to boost his or her wine knowledge in a practical and fun way. The book includes excellent maps of popular wine regions, details on over 100 grape varietals and an excellent section on food and wine pairings. That’s just a little of what you’ll sip in the magnum edition. 

Robert Mondavi was one the most prominent figures in shaping the Napa Valley wine region. But, Robert was just one person who helped create the fabled Napa Valley family who built one of the largest American wine dynasty’s. The book follows four generations of the Mondavi family through love, death, family betrayals and crazy business risks all for the love of wine. Named to The New York Times Best Sellers, Julia Flynn reports a complicated but wildly interesting narrative of the rise and fall of the Mondavi family – the book is based on thousands of hours of interviews she had with the family and insiders who knew them well. Who needs fiction when you have stories like this

Want to drink rose’ in the winter, go for it. Why not open that special bottle you’ve been holding on to on a Tuesday night? You can. In this book Jon Bonn shares today’s rules of sipping wine, the the first one being to forget what all the “experts” have told you. This book helps to uncork the world of wine into simple, easy sips.

Written by Kermit Lynch over 25 years ago, this wine book has become a classic and one any lover of wine should read. The book takes you on a journey through the French wine country to help you understand what wine really is. In 2007, The New York Times called it “one of the finest American books on wine.” And in June 2012, The Wall Street Journal proclaimed it “the best book on the wine business.” 

The first edition of this book written by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson – was released in 1971. It has since been updated seven more time to reflect the ever changing landscape of the wine regions throughout the world.  It is recognized by critics as the essential and most authoritative wine books available.

Professional journalist and amateur drinker Bianca Bosker didn’t know much about wine—until she discovered an alternate universe where taste reigns supreme, a world of elite sommeliers who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of flavor. With boundless curiosity, humor, and a healthy dose of skepticism, Bosker takes the reader inside underground tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, California mass-market wine factories, and even a neuroscientist’s fMRI machine as she attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what’s the big deal about wine? What she learns will change the way you drink wine—and, perhaps, the way you live—forever. 

I love the award winning podcast that Elizabeth Schneider hosts. Her Wine for Normal People book takes her podcast to a written form in this down-to-earth resource for anyone seeking an introduction to the world of wine. 

This book is just funny…and educational for more of you novice wine lover. I really enjoyed the humor the author, Marissa A. Ross brings to the art of understanding and drinking wine. It’s dubbed “The best guide to drinking wine without overthinking”, which is the perfect way to describe this book.