Reading ·

Ten wine books you should read

Atlases, encyclopaedias, chronicles and tasting guides: the essential library for understanding wine, from vineyard to glass.

People at the winery often ask us where to start reading about wine. There is no single path, but there are a few books we keep coming back to: some for reference, some to understand how to taste, and some simply because they tell the story of winemakers so well.

This is our selection.

Vineyard in autumn in Fuentecén

Our selection

  1. The World Atlas of Wine · Hugh Johnson y Jancis Robinson · 1971

    The reference atlas for half a century: detailed maps of the world’s great regions, Ribera del Duero included, and texts that explain why each place makes the wine it does.

  2. The Oxford Companion to Wine · Jancis Robinson (dir.) · 1994

    The great wine encyclopaedia: thousands of entries on grapes, regions, techniques and history. A book to keep at hand and open at any page.

  3. Wine Grapes · Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding y José Vouillamoz · 2012

    Almost 1,400 vine varieties with their origins and DNA. This is where you understand where Tempranillo, Garnacha and Albillo Mayor come from.

  4. The Wine Bible · Karen MacNeil · 2001

    A complete, clear and enjoyable tour of every region and style. Probably the best book to start from scratch.

  5. Le goût du vin (El gusto del vino) · Émile Peynaud · 1980

    The Bordeaux oenologist who changed the way we taste. He explains what we perceive in a glass and why; it is still the basis of any tasting course.

  6. Adventures on the Wine Route · Kermit Lynch · 1988

    An American importer travels through France’s small wineries. A book about growers, landscapes and wines with identity that has inspired a generation.

  7. Judgment of Paris · George M. Taber · 2005

    The story of the 1976 blind tasting in which Californian wines beat the great French ones, told by the only journalist who was there.

  8. Cork Dork · Bianca Bosker · 2017

    A journalist sets out to become a sommelier in a year. Funny and very well researched on how smell and taste work.

  9. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition · Madeline Puckette y Justin Hammack · 2018

    Charts and infographics to understand grapes, styles and pairings at a glance. Very useful for beginners.

  10. Natural Wine · Isabelle Legeron · 2014

    An introduction to natural wine: living viticulture, minimal intervention in the cellar and what that means in the glass.

Is one missing? Write to us and we will add it to the next list.

Source: Selection by TresPiedras.

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