Three recently published wine books

James Halliday's: Wine Atlas of Australia, Hardie Grant, 312 pages, hbk, maps, col pics

This is an updated edition of James’ Atlas, first published in 2006. This edition was published in 2008 and is now available in the UK.

Photo credits include James Halliday and Richard Humphreys.

James Lawther MW: The Heart of Bordeaux – the greatest wines from Graves Châteaux, stewart tabori & chang, £29.99, 224 pages, col pics
I suspect that this is the first book in English dedicated to the wines of the Graves since Pamela Vandyke Price’s Wines of the Graves was published in 1993. James profiles 16 cru classés making up the vast majority of the book. Each profile including a recipe from France’s best-known chefs, including Michel Guerard, Michel Trama and Anne-Sophie Pic.

Foreword by Hugh Johnson, introduction by Michel Bettane and photos by Alain Benoit.

Paul Strang: South-West France – the wines and winemakers, University of California Press, 374 pages
Fifteen years after Paul and Jeanne Strang’s Wine of South West France was published, Paul has written the new reference book in English for the now better appreciated wines of South-West France. He covers the region from the Upper Lot Valley, Correze and the Aveyron to Irouléguy and Jurançon by way of Bergerac, Cahors, Fronton and many others. There is even a brief section on the ‘Vignobles des Sables de l’Océan’ covering the few vignerons making wine in Les Landes.

The English version of this book is published by the University of California and should be available in the UK from 1^st December.

Paul’s new book is very highly recommended, although a small disappointment that there are no captions in either of these editions for Jason Shenaï’s many fine photos. A fine book – foolish that Grub Street pulled out from publishing it.)