The 9 New Important Wine Books Worth Your Time
The best-selling wine books have always been the introductory education books or those that give a general overview of the world of wine. This is how it should be. However, the most interesting books on wine are those that delve deeper into more specific subject matter.
These are, in my view, the most interesting wine books releasing in 2022.
The World of Natural Wine: What It Is, Who Makes It, and Why It Matters
By Aaron Ayscough (September 22, 2022)
Lord knows, someone needs to explain natural wine. It is a movement? A philosophy? Why is there so little? With all the talk, why is so little selling? How does it correspond to anti-corporate and anti-globalization? I’m positive that upon reading this coming explanation I’ll have all the answers
The Life and Wines of Hugh Johnson
By Hugh Johnson with Forward by Eric Asimov (July 22, 2022)
This is an update of Johnson’s memoir, first published in 2006 under the title, “A Life Uncorked.” This new issue covers the next 15 years of his most prolific life in Wine. I can’t imagine memoir writing is an easy thing to undertake. I how do you decide whose secrets to reveal and whose are left under wraps? That would be my dilemma. One dilemma I would not face in writing my memoirs, however, is how to translate one of the most remarkable wine lives in the history of wine into a story. This is the challenge that Johnson takes on.
Churchill: A Drinking Life: Champagne, Cognac, Cocktails
By Gin Sander and Roxanne Langer (July 26, 2022)
This book won’t get nearly the sell-through as others on this list. You’d have to be like me, a super fan of Churchill and alcohol in order to be motivated to possess this little book. But I am in fact that person, having read numerous books on perhaps the most important man of the 20th Century. I’m all in with this one.
Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails
By Camper English (July 19, 2022)
My academic training is in history, with the Masters focusing on American Diplomatic History. Based only on the title, the author and the description of this book, I’m thinking I could be convinced to go in another direction if I had it all to do over. The fact is, alcohol was a savior to humanity and we are about to find out in how many different ways it has played that role.
To Fall In Love, Drink This
Alice Feiring (July 19, 2022)
I adore Alice. My adoration is based primarily in the way her mind works and how she translates her thoughts to words. In this vignette-laden memoir, Alice is not focused on Natural Wine and I’m grateful for this since I always believed that focus of hers led her away from producing what in all likelihood would have been a more interesting compendium of insights about wine, the wine culture, and wine people. This may be the single book I’m most looking forward to.
Wine Wars II: The Global Battle For the Soul of Wine
By Mike Veseth (July 1, 2022)
This is Veseth’s follow-up to his original “Wine Wars” published a decade ago. In the sequel, Mike sees the wine world through the lens of climate, economic and identity crises—all of which apparently threatens the soul of wine.
Reflections from a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in Napa Valley
By Tor Kenwood (April 26, 2022)
Whenever I think of Tor, I think of a publicist who was kind enough to take a few moments on the phone with me when I was researching the potential for a career in wine pr. In 1990 he was in PR and marketing at Beringer and was believed to be among the best by all I talked to. For the last many years, however, Tor has been the owner of his own brand, TOR. This coming book is likely to be of great interest to those who have lived in Napa Valley or worked around the Valley’s wine industry.
Burp: The Other Wine Book
By Bas Korpel and Jur Baart (April 4, 2022)
What I know is that this book seeks to examine wine based on the labels of selected bottles. It may be a wonderful book. Or not. But, the title! I’m in.
Wine Markets: Genres and Identities
By Michael T. Hannan, Giacomo Negro, Susan Olzak (February 2, 2022)
Easily the most academic of all the books on this list, the authors make a sociological study of wine markets and use the concepts of genre and identity to organize their thesis: “Winemakers face a fundamental choice: produce an existing style and develop an identity as a proponent of tradition or embrace foreign, new, or emerging categories and be seen as an innovator.” It strikes me if we are going to describe the wine market in binary terms, these seem as good as any. This intrigues!