Best New Wine Books for Christmas
- adrianlatimer61
- Nov 15
- 5 min read
A Year in the Vineyard at Domaine Clape Cornas
By Magali Jacob & Quentin Preaud (linocut illustrations)
English & French Editions, 2025
I’ve just paid for a clean up and upgrade of this little website, so I hope it’s all working and thoroughly visible. It’s a shame how much work and money you have to expend to get the likes of Google to list you on their searches…
Anyway, it’s that time of year – the last golden outburst of autumnal Nature in all its Fauvist glory, the cynical commercial hysteria of Black Friday and then the looming stress of endless Christmas presents. So, in the spirit of festive cheer and goodwill to all, here are two suggestions for gifts that would please any true wine lover.
I was happily being harangued by Tim Johnson (father of Juveniles Wine Bar in Paris and one of the early discoverers and supporters of Domaine Auguste Clape) in Willis Wine Bar (as in Mark Williamson, Tim’s then partner in wine and Rhone Ranger) and was introduced to a good-looking couple to whom he was chatting. It was difficult to hear given the party atmosphere (which included well known wine authors and Masters of Wine, even none other than Jancis Robinson) but eventually worked out that Tim’s friends were Rhone superstars, creators of one of his (and my) favourite wines. Olivier Clape and Magali Jacob. He had made the wine, and she had written the book. Charmingly, they suggested a book exchange, as they had a launch at Restaurant Maceo next-door in a couple of days. Olivier muttered something to me about magnums of two vintages of the Cornas being poured as if I needed an extra incentive to come…
The wine, both at Mark’s party and Magali’s book launch was indeed magnums of vintage Clape and, as always, a joy. Given the prices of top label wines these days, it must be one of the best value true ‘grand crus’ in France. Never fails, a wine of depth and balance, deeply textured but elegant, quintessence of Syrah grown on those crazily steep granite slopes.
Which brings me to the book. It is beautifully illustrated with black and white linocuts which somehow capture the rugged reality of it all, the slopes, the hard soil, the people, no frills here. Magali basically goes through a year of growing grapes, farming the soil and maintaining the vines plus, of course, a year in the winery, from crushing through fermentation to barrel ageing.
If you are not an expert of how grapes are farmed and wine made, it’s a very nice picture of what goes on from start to finish, but what impressed me was that even though I think I know a bit about Cornas and have drunk Clape for a couple of decades, there were various aspects of what happens in the vineyard that I’d never even thought about, and which made me realise not just how many challenges a winemaker faces, but the sheer physicality of much of it. The slopes are steep, so worked by horse when possible, which involves a lot of downward pressure being applied on the plough to keep it under the soil. Yes, the horse might pull it uphill, but you need to force that blade into the earth and keep it there. When it’s too steep for our four-legged friends, they use a hand worked mechanical winch, and when that too is impossible, a team goes out with pickaxes and manually breaks up the soil.
And then there are all those pretty terraced walls which need rebuilding by hand, stone by stone, when they inevitably collapse. And the essential spraying needs to be done in one-piece over-suits that look like something out of Star Wars (there is a fun illustration). Not quite so much fun in a scorching Rhone summer. Even though the product is utterly non-toxic, Olivier said they sometimes still receive abuse, but there are no synthetic chemicals sprayed here.
All in all, as the back cover states, my appreciation for the wine has gone up, not because of the taste and quality of the drink, but because now I know so much more about the sheer brute force and muscle power that is needed to produce what I so happily sniff and swallow, and to which most tasters are totally oblivious.
So, if you like Syrah, winemaking and/or the Northern Rhone/Cornas, go read the book. It’s available in French and English editions and I know it’s on sale at Willis Wine Bar (& Maceo) in Paris.
The Wine in My Glass – Tales of Wines, Winemakers and Places’
Adrian Latimer and Arabella Langlands-Perry (watercolour illustrations)
Published by The Medlar Press Limited, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, autumn 2025. www.medlarpress.com
Available from Medlar in UK, and/or from me in France or Willis Wine Bar in Paris.
Okay apologies again for the self-promotion, but all profits go to charity (to Vendanges Solidaires, who help young wineries who have lost at least 50% of their crop to the ever more frequent vagaries of the over-heating climate), and as a non-professional I need to try to get this book in front of the public.
I don’t like scores or tasting notes, but I do like people, places and the stories behind them. So, this is not a book about showing off ego-boosting labels but one that travels from California to Sicily, via Salta, Jujuy and Patagonia in Argentina; Valtellina, Piemonte and Tuscany in Italy; Madeira and of course all over France (Burgundy, Chablis, Sancerre, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, the Rhone). What I am trying to do is capture some of the characters, the places and beauty, their histories and hopefully some of the fun and joy that goes with vineyards and a glass in hand.
Being just a passionate amateur with no professional or financial interests, I can say what I actually think, and I suspect that you can often have more honest fun with winemakers when you are a keen nobody, and I’ve been fortunate enough to do this for over 30 years, well before the era of cult labels, influencers and stratospheric prices.
Along the way you will encounter prehistoric dinosaurs, truffle hounds, Napoleon and his nemesis Nelson, Homeric ogres, Churchill, prescient medieval dukes, vines at over 10,000 feet high (3,000 metres), volcanoes, seventeenth century London diarists, Michelangelo and da Vinci, painters in Barolo, a wizard in Montalcino and a couple of queens (& a king) of England. And, of course, a lot of wines and the stories and people that make them.
What also makes this book unusual and special is that it’s beautifully and wittily illustrated by Arabella (from Willis Wine Bar in Paris).
As it’s all for a good cause I hope you will buy a copy and enjoy it, and then pass on the word, as we have few contacts in the wine or book trade. There are as I write at least half a dozen Masters of Wine, two renowned wine authors, two top wine bar owners, one famed winemaker and magazine reviewer and the book critics for JancisRobinson.com, Decanter magazine and The World of Fine Wine magazine who have copies, but sadly I think any public reviews will come out after Christmas. But thus far the feedback has been extremely positive, so it does seem that serious wine people really do enjoy reading it.
I very much hope you will too.
Comments