Two recent wine books:Rosalind Cooper/ James Lawther MW

Roalind Cooper: The Wine Year, Merrell £24.95 (US$39.95), 224 pages, hbk, col pics

Roz’s book is about the seasons as she explains in her introduction: ‘Wine is a product of the seasons. From the earliest signs of growth in the spring, through the crucial flowering period of early summer, to the final fruition of harvest in the autumn, the vine’s fate is tied to the annual cycle.’

The book is naturally dived up into 12 chapters taking a month at a time beginning with January. Within each chapter there are four sections: knowledge, entertaining, travel and an interview.

January’s chapter, for instance, starts with ‘growing great grapes’ then moves to entertaining with a sparkle, next visiting the vineyards of Champagne and concluding with an interview with Stéphane Tsassis, the CEO of Champagne Laurent Perrier.

(This is a well-designed book and Roz has taken a refreshingly different approach. Although not nominally an introduction to wine, this would certainly be an interestingly different book for someone looking to learn more about wine.)   

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James Lawther MW: Finest Wines of Bordeaux, Fine Wine Editions in association with Aurum and University of California Press , £20, 320 pages, photos by Jon Wyand. pbk

This is the third title in the Fine Wine Editions series. It follows the same pattern as the first two (Michael Edwards on Champagne and Nicolas Belfrage on Tuscany) by concentrating on profiling the region’s leading châteaux after an introductory section.

The introductory section covers the history, culture and market; climate, soil and grape varieties; viticulture and winemaking; classification and regulation and Paris 1855 to Parker. James explains briefly and succinctly Bordeaux unique system négociant and courtier system.

The châteaux profiles are from the Médoc, Pomerol and Saint-Emilion, the Graves plus Sauternes and Barsac.

Foreword by Hugh Johnson 

(James lives in the region and his knowledge and understanding of Bordeaux shows in this authoritative book. Fine photos, as usual, from Jon Wyand.)