The end of the year always brings flurries of new wine books, many of which are destined to become gifts for some wine lover. Two topics are getting a lot of attention this year: budget wines, and the tension between technology and “naturalness” in winemaking.
For a view of “budget” wine, there’s “Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World’s Best Bargain Wines” by Natalie MacLean. Her book is arranged by days of the week, with each day representing a region of the world. The Australia chapter (Sunday) focuses most of its attention on Penfolds and Henschke. Each chapter ends with a list of good-value wines and top producers. And MacLean has an engaging style that makes the book fun to read.
You can read more reviews of my new wine book Unquenchable here.