My Go-To Wine Books for Beginners & Enthusiasts

Ep 87

When it comes to wine books, which ones are essential for every wine lover’s collection? 

Well, if you know anything about me, you know I’m a sucker for a good wine book. A wine book is how I actually ended up getting into wine in the first place!

Before I was really enthralled by the world of wine, my husband and I took a trip down to Willamette Valley. The tour guide gave us an amazing tour of Archery Summit and recommended this book called Cork Dork for me to read. After reading Cork Dork, it led to a deep dive into countless wine books that have since become cornerstones of my collection.

Today, I’m sharing my top 13 wine book recommendations and I’ve grouped them into 4 categories: reference books, personal essays/novel-esque, food pairing guides, and others. Whether it’s deepening your wine knowledge, learning new food and wine pairings, or a thrilling fiction book, there is a book here for everyone!

So, if you are ready to dive into the world of wine through the pages of expertly curated books, press play and listen in! 

Related Episodes:

EP 05 - Tips for Smelling Wine with Cork Dork Author Bianca Bosker

Ep 29 - Cork Crew Q&A with Karen Mcneil, Author of the Wine Bible

Ep 34 - Exploring Australian Win with Jane Lopes

Ep 65 - Synthetic Wine & Thrilling Stories with Jupiter’s Blood Author Steven Laine

Episode Highlights:

• My go-to wine reference books

• The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil

• Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: The Master Guide by Madeline Puckette and Justin Hammack

• Wine Simple by Aldo Sohm

• Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

• Godforsaken Grapes by Jason Wilson

• Wine all the Time by Marissa A. Ross

• Adventures on the Wine Route by Kermit Lynch

• Vignette: Stories of Life and Wine in 100 Bottles by Jane Lopes

• Food and wine pairing books

• Wine Food by Dana Frank and Andrea Slonecker

• Big Mac & Burgundy by Vanessa Price

• Wine and War by Donald and Petie Kkadstrup

• Wine Witch on Fire by Natalie McLean

• Jupiter’s Blood by Steven Laine

Transcript

0:23

Hello. And, oh, let me just say, recording episode 87 of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. Okay. Let's try this again. Hello, and welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. Today's episode is 1, I'm surprised I have not done yet. I don't think I've done this yet. We are gonna be talking about my favorite wine books. And if you know anything about me, you know I'm a sucker for a good wine book. It's actually really how I ended up getting into wine. If you've never heard the story, I my first time kind of, like, before I was really enthralled by the world of wine, my husband and I took a trip down to Willamette Valley, just past Portland, Oregon. And the tour guide who was giving us this amazing tour of Archery Summit, recommended this book called Corkdork for me to read. He could tell I was very interested in what he was saying and what was going on in the wine world. It's like you should read this book. It would be perfect. I honestly kind of forgot about for a little bit. I did not, like, immediately go back and get this bug. I didn't, like, jump on Amazon. I was kinda like, okay. Cool. Great. And we just so happened to then stop in Portland on our way home. We lived in Seattle, still live in Seattle, I suppose. But we stopped in Portland because that's where my in laws lived at the time. And we went to Powell's, which is this massive bookstore. And I remember going over to the cookbook section because I'm a sucker for cookbooks even though I don't use them as much. I just love looking at them. But I went over to the cookbook section, and lo and behold, right next to the cookbook section was the wine section. And there, I found corkdork, and I'm like, this is a sign. I need to get this book right now. So I bought that book there. I think I read it in, like, 2 days. Loved it, and then ended up basically just going to my local library, looking up wine on the, you know, computer system, and checking out every book I could on the world of wine. And since then, I have just never looked back. It's just been such a fun thing to explore. So needless to say, I've read a lot of wine books, and I own a lot of wine books at this point. I started at the library, but now at this point, I think, like, everybody I know just, like, knows at gift times, they should just give me a wine book and I'll love it. So it was really hard to choose, but I picked my top 13 to tell you about in this episode. I'm, like, even looking behind me right now, like, where I record my podcast is in front of my bookshelf. I'm, like, oh, but there's so many more than 13. So just know, just because a book didn't make my list, doesn't mean I don't love it. I just I had to make a cut off somewhere. And honestly, we could do a part 2 to this if you wanna learn about more wine books. So I broke them into 3 different categories. We'll be talking about kind of reference style books, and then we'll talk about kind of personal essays slash, like, novel esque. They're not, like, fiction. They're all nonfiction. And then there's a section on food and then finally just kind of like an other section because I wasn't quite sure what to call it. So let's dive into these wonderful wine books. Okay. Starting off, we gotta start with the wine bible. And this is so aptly named because it's just like it is the bible for all things wine. This was written by Karen McNeil. She was actually a cork crew guest. So we had her in the virtual tasting club for a q and a. And I actually took that q and a and created a podcast episode out of it. So if you want to learn more from her and hear about her experience writing this book, go check that out. We'll link the episode in the show notes. It is now on its 3rd edition, but it was originally published in 2001. That first edition sold 750 1,000 copies, which is huge for a wine book. And it took her 10 years to write it. And the reason why it took so long is she actually traveled to different countries. She really wanted to include information beyond just what did the wine taste like? What were the scores it got? Like, she wanted us, the reader, us obviously, to learn more about the culture and the region itself. And she didn't wanna share these things just from what she read from other people. She wanted to go experience it so she could put it in this book. That new 3rd edition is in color, and it has over 400 color images and maps. This is definitely my go to book to learn about a region or a wine. And the thing is that it's like it's definitely a reference book. Right? Like, I'm not I wouldn't like, I I don't think I could probably read it front, you know, front cover to back, but the writing is so interesting and easy to read. Like, it doesn't feel like a textbook. Like, it is just such a great reference book, and she writes so just like casually, but also with so much information. You're you're gonna love it. It's definitely a go to for anybody who enjoys wine and just something nice to have on your bookshelf to go to when you wanna learn about a wine. I've also heard of, like, wine clubs doing their tastings based off the wine bible. So they'll, like, pick a section from the wine bible and be like, okay. Everybody bring a wine from this section and, like, read this part of the the wine bible. And I think that's such a cool idea, like, a good combo, book club, wine tasting club, and then also an opportunity to learn about the wine. So definitely an idea if you ever wanted to give it a try. Okay. Our next book is another top favorite, wine folly magnum edition, the master guide. So this is written by wine educator extraordinaire, Madeleine Puckett, and Justin Hammock. If you're going to get any book on wine, this is the one I highly recommend for beginners and enthusiasts alike. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a wine lover that doesn't own this book yet. It has beautiful illustrations and graphics. It's such a great, like, coffee table book, but also wonderful to, like, have by your side when tasting wine. Like, it has the substance along with the beauty to be a coffee table book. It is the main book that I bring out during wine tastings with friends, or even my Cork and Fizz private tastings. My favorite part of the book is the middle section. It's the biggest section that highlights the top 100 or so grapes, basically sharing, like, where they're grown, what are the common flavors, how long if you should decant it, you know, how long are these age worthy, you know, just like the basic things about each of the wines. It also includes really amazing detailed maps at the, end of the book and tips for tasting wine just kind of throughout and in the beginning. I think the last reference book that I put on here is Wine Simple, and this was written by world renowned, sommelier aldosterone. It is very similar to wine folly in that it's a great reference book, but also a great coffee table book for just how beautiful it is. I think when I'm comparing the 2, I almost thought I was like, do I need both of these on there? But I do like both of these so much. I think wine simple is a little more in-depth than wine folly, but not as expansive. Hopefully, that makes sense. Like it goes deeper into certain things, but it doesn't cover as much stuff. It's like depth instead of breadth. I don't know. That's the engineer in me that I like, that's how I describe it. It also has a lot of great logistical information for wine beginners. So like, how to order and buy wine. What is natural wine? How do you open a bottle? How do you use that corkscrew that every waiter uses when you go out to eat? Right? And then what to do when your cork gets stuck? Choosing glassware. Does the glass matter, and what type of wine glass should you use? All these kinds of things are included in that book along with maps, different things about the regions, popular styles of wine, all that good stuff. So that was wine simple. Now diving into our next category, which probably has some of my, like, most favorite books. These are kinda like the personal essay novell esque, I'm calling them. So first up, you know we gotta have corkdork on here. So this is written by Bianca Bhosker. We have had her on the podcast. I wanna say it was, like, episode 7. No. Maybe a little later. It was definitely early on in the podcast. So go back, listen to that. Bianca is such a wonderful person, and this is such a perfect book for anyone in your life, like, showing an interest in the world of wine. It covers so much, and the writing is wonderful. I also love it as an audiobook. Bianca actually, like, reads it herself. So in the book, she talks about, like, tasting groups of professional sommeliers in New York. She also calls them out on, like, a flavor note that they use all the time when they're describing wine. She's like, do you actually know what that is? And she, like, brings it in and has them, like, guess what the flavors are, and she they don't know what it is. So I don't know. I just I love that it kinda, like she kinda, like, questions things while also really realizing why wine is such a special thing. She also goes and talks to smell scientists, and how, you know, and learns how we as humans actually smell things, and can we learn to smell better? And what is it about it, you know, that we can do that? She also visits a California mass market wine factory, and and we get to learn more about that. She also works in a famous wine bar and in high end restaurants. We get to see the behind the scenes look at all of these things. Like I said in the intro, this is the very first wine book I read, and I absolutely fell in love with the subject. So I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about wine. So that is Corkdork. The next one I don't see on as many wine book lists, but I really loved it. It's called Godforsaken Grapes. It is written by Jason Wilson. It's basically a travel memoir of discovering and learning more about obscure and unique grapes, used to make wine obviously, around the world. And I just found it incredibly entertaining and so fascinating. Like, there are over 1400, that is 1,400 grape varieties in the world used to make wine. And we really only talk about, like, a 100 or so of these. So, like, why aren't the other ones used so much? But then why are they still used at all? Like, where are they? How can I find them? How can I taste them? And so this this book is a really lovely kinda introduction to some unique styles of wine, and I feel like this is, like, the next step in, like, you learn the basics on wine, and then you start going down the rabbit hole. And this is one of those books that's gonna have you going down that rabbit hole. So that is godforsaken grapes. Another great one that I read early on, in my wine fascination. I don't know what you wanna call it. But it's called wine all the time. It is by Marissa a Ross. It is a great dose of wine education with a hell of a lot of humor. Marissa doesn't have any official qualifications, and she'll tell you that right at the beginning of the book, when it comes to drinking and writing about wine, except that she's been doing it now for over 10 years. She got her start by doing a mini series of video blogs, taste testing cheap wines. Okay. Just double checking. Her process included the what she called the Ross test, where she chugged the bottle at the end of the tasting to determine if it was chuggable. And from there, her curiosity grew, and she started an official wine blog tasting wine. So this book is educational, but also incredibly entertaining, and it really takes that kind of look at, like, you're not gonna feel silly about wine. Like, Marissa is not this, like, fancy, snooty I mean, none of these authors are really, but I feel like this one is just like the most, what I wanna say, just like approachable take on the world of wine because she does it, like, coming at it. Like, many of us have come at the world of wine. I'm just like, we start with the under $10 bottles just because we wanna have some wine, and then we start becoming curious and wanting to taste more and then being like, okay. Why is this you know, how do you taste this in it? And what what do you do this? And I feel like she does a great job of kinda, like, taking us along that journey that she takes as well. This also was a good introduction to me on natural wine because that is important to Marissa as well. Alright. So that was wine all the time. Next book is called Adventures on the Wine Route, and this was written by Kermit Lynch. And that name might sound familiar to you if you are into the world of wine. It is one of the most well known names in the wine world, but primarily as an importer. So you may have seen it on the back of wine bottles imported in, especially from Europe and from France. But he's also an incredible writer, as we learn from or as I learned from reading this book. So if a wine trip to France is something you wanna do, but maybe out of the question for right now, let this book transport you there in the meantime. Kermit basically shares his stories from his time in France meeting winemakers and choosing wines to import back to the US. And I can tell you the stories are so good. Like, whatever you're imagining, like, just, like, times it by 10, and the stories are just so fun and so great. I have this memory of, like, reading about when he's like, yeah. There's, like, lots of winding roads, and we all drink a lot of wine. And I remember just thinking, oh my god. That's, like, crazy, but I guess it's, like, totally normal and the big dinners they'd have and all these things. And so definitely a really fun one for, like, learning a little bit more in-depth about France, but within a story and taking a journey. Okay. Our last one now this one I kinda debated between whether it was like a resource book or going in this, like, personal essay, but I decided to put it here. It's called Vignettes, Stories of Life and Wine in a 100 Bottles. And this was written by Jane Lopes, who we have also had on the podcast. She's also the author of a very clearly reference book on Australian wine that is called How to Drink Australian. But before that book, she wrote this one, vignette. And I love this book. It's such a fun idea for a wine book and different from so many of them out there. In this book, Jane recommends the 100 bottles of wine to best expand your wine journey, But it's not like a boring straightforward list full of just factual info, like here are the 100 bottles you should try. There is plenty of factual information on each of the bottles. You will definitely learn about them. But Jane shares these bottles by telling the story of her life and how these wines fit into her own story. So it's a great resource book for discovering new wines, but honestly, I wrote this one front to back because it was just such great writing, and it was really interesting to learn the story of somebody who is working in the wine world. Right? Like, I think that's something that, like, for people like me, and I'm guessing people like you that are listening, learning more about the people who are just in amongst the wine world is just really fascinating and interesting. Okay. Next section is our food section. So, again, I really coulda gone overboard here, but we I picked my top 2. So the first one is the best cookbook pairing with wine. I mean, honestly, just a great cookbook in general. It's called Wine Food. It's written by Dana Frank and Andrea Slonecker. I wish more books like this existed. It basically includes 75 really approachable recipes and pairs each recipe with a style of wine. And so it's perfect for anyone wanting to get into wine and food pairing, but isn't quite sure how to do it yet. Like, you can create an amazing dinner with amazing wine pairings purely from this book. And they share why the wines pair with the food as well so you can learn as you go. So just to give you a little a little hint, a little taste, as you might say, talking about food, some of my favorite recipes and pairings include slow braised lamb ragu with rigatoni and whipped ricotta, and that's paired with a burrillo, porcini mushroom stroganoff paired with orange wine, chicken pot pie paired with white burgundy, and one that I know I've made probably, like, 10 times at least, if not more, at this point, Campfire, cassoulet, and Oregon Pinot Noir. So, so good. Highly recommend. I think this is just such such a great book. I just want more books that are like this, where they're just like, here's a recipe, and here's the style of wine that you pair with it. And I'm like, yes. That is exactly what I want. Okay. Our second book is more for somebody who wants to do wine and food pairing, but maybe isn't into the cooking. So this is called Big Mac and Burgundy. It's by Vanessa Price, and this is basically where she pairs wine with more casual favorites. So it's the idea that, like, you know how you see these, like you probably were, like, maybe thinking it when I was listening to my favorite recipes from the other book. You're, like, I'm not gonna have a, like, slow braised lamb ragu on a casual Tuesday night, but I still wanna pair a bottle of wine with whatever I'm eating, this is gonna be the book that you're going to want. So she pairs wine with things like Cheez Its, General Tchow's chicken, popcorn, and, of course, as you see on the front, Big Mac. Right? Like, what to pair with that. And she shares all of this in in a language that is easily understood why those pairings work so much. So I think this is a great one. This one's super fun and great for those that, like, wanna do wine and food pairing, but don't cook that much and don't need anything fancy. Okay. Our last section, which is called other, because I wasn't quite sure what to name it, but I wanted these, books to be mentioned. So we have 3 books left. The first one I'm gonna talk about is called wine and war, and this is by Donald and Petey Kladstroop, and it's a it's a history book. Now it's not like a history textbook. Alright? Like, this is actually, like, interesting. I myself have never been a big history nerd until I began learning more about wine. And the stories in this book in particular absolutely blew my mind. So in Wine and War, you'll discover the remarkable untold story of France's courageous, clever vintners who protect who protected and rescued the country's most treasured commodity, AKA the wine, from German plunder during World War 2. They talk about how they hid the wine behind fake cellar walls, like, to the point of actually, like, picking up spider webs and moving them over in front of these walls to make it look older, how they hid themselves in wine barrels to travel across borders, and so much more. This was just such a fascinating read. I feel like and, again, it goes more into the stories of people's lives during that time, which to me is is more interesting than just all the facts and figures, you know, whatever was going on in world war 2 that we typically learn during our history lesson. So even if you're not a huge history nerd, I think you're still gonna enjoy this if you are into into wine. The next one, of course, I gotta mention, Wine Witch on Fire. This is written by Natalie McLean. She's actually an upcoming podcast guest. She's going to be on the podcast, I think, the one after this one. I've actually I've already interviewed her. Sometimes we record these a little out of order. So I don't wanna give too much away because we are gonna be talking about that book during that podcast, but it is this incredibly powerful memoir that documents how Natalie takes her life back after an incredibly challenging year filled with divorce. And online bullying is the best way to put it, but honestly, it's worse than that. So listen in to next week's episode to learn more about Wine Witch on Fire. And don't worry, we don't give anything away if you haven't read the book yet, so you could also pick that up so you can kind of follow along as we chat. And, lastly, a fun one that's very different from all the other books we've talked about, Jupiter's Blood. This is by Stephen Lane, who we've also had on the podcast here, so you can hear him talk about this book himself. It is an action packed wine thriller. So, yes, like, a fictional novel that has wine as a major focus, and actually, like, legit wine stuff. Right? It's not like when you're watching TV and they're doing things with wine, and you're like, oh my god. They're not doing the right thing with the wine. No. This was written by a wine expert, so they actually know what they're talking about. This book is so much fun, has such a great change of pace from the typical wine reading, right, which is, like, almost entirely nonfiction. It brings you into the fiction world. And there's actually 2 other books kind of within this world. They're not in a series, but they're all kind of, Steven talks about this in the podcast where, like, they all kind of exist in a similar world. And one day, he'd love to, like, bring them all together in one book, which would be pretty cool. And, like, some characters from some books show up in other books. So the synopsis of Jupiter's Blood is basically this American wine expert, Dante Lombardi, is struggling to come to terms with his best friend's suicide. His world is further upended when his ex, doctor Claire Durant, introduces him to a synthetic lab made wine that she's developed. It's called Replivino. And this, like, brings up a whole like, when I was reading this, I was like, woah. How would I feel about a wine that's, like, created in the lab and, like, tastes exactly like a high end wine? Like, would would I want to drink that? I mean, in the book, you know, he he goes on to, like, this Replavino can pass for the finest wines produced by the world's best winemakers but at a fraction of the cost. So, anyway, that's a whole thing in the book, which is cool. But then, of course, right, it's a thriller. So when Claire and her company's vino code for creating Replavino disappear, Dante must put his feelings for what he deems franken wine aside and rushed to Europe to find her. So it's a great thriller, a great story, but a fun little connection to the world of wine. Alright. Those are my top 13 wine books. Like I said, there are so many more. But let me know which of these books are you most interested in checking out, and are there any favorite wine books of yours that I missed? I mean, let's be real. This podcast would have gone on forever if I included all of them, but let me know. I'd maybe I haven't read them yet, and I love reading a new wine book. Now, of course, if you know a wine lover in your life who would enjoy this podcast, please share it with them, find your favorite episode, and send it their way. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. I release new episodes every Wednesday. Now I already hinted to it earlier, but in next week's episode, I will be interviewing the accomplished wine expert, Natalie MacLean, winner of 4 James Beard Journalism Awards and author of 3 incredible wine books. During our interview, I asked Natalie about how she got into wine writing and her take on whether wine reviews are dangerous or beneficial. We also discussed more difficult topics like online bullying, being different, her relationship with drinking alcohol, and misogyny in the wine world. It is one you are not gonna wanna miss. It is a 2 parter again, so it'll be next episode and the one after that. Thanks again for listening. And if you wanna learn more about wine, come follow me at corkandfizz on Instagram. And if you're interested in exploring new wines and joining an incredible community of wine lovers, be sure to sign up for my virtual tasting club, The Cork Crew. Head to corkandfizz.com/freeclasspass to come check out a tasting for free. Cheers.