It used to be the easiest way in the wine world to get a laugh - start extolling the virtues of English wine. Oh, how they would chortle! And they had a point.
Until the 1990s hardly any English wine was more than a curiosity to be drunk if you had no other choice. The old-fashioned view of English wine is that of a cottage industry made up of amateurs struggling with the mud and the drizzle. The modern view is of a country amazingly blessed with vast tracts of soil suitable for viticulture, much of it almost indistinguishable from the chalky slopes of Champagne and Chablis, and of a country taking full advantage of the vagaries of climate change to ripen Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to levels perfect for sparkling wine, and increasingly excellent still wines. And it wouldn''t be far off the mark to say that England is now the newest of the New World, New Wave wine countries.
The 1990s brought several pioneering sparkling wine producers to the fore - led by Nyetimber and Breaky Bottom and suddenly England has found its wine vocation. Oz has long been a champion of English wines and this book helps you find the best wines, from fizz, whites, some impressive reds and even dessert and orange wines.
One of the great pleasures of wine is to drink it where it is grown and made. Both wine handbook and armchair companion, English Wine is an essential book for all lovers of wine. The opportunity to meet growers, winemakers and winery owners is what draws people to visit wineries and ''have an experience in the vineyard''.
The book is split into sections: Exciting Times - How it used to be; The Nyetimber effect; Climate: is it almost perfect now?; Location is key; Planting like made; A question of style: sparkling or still; and Grape varieties: a race to the top. British Bubbles - What is needed to make good fizz; Champagne, the original fizz; Bubbles and how they''re created. A Tour Of the Regions - covers personal experiences and reflections from Oz''s many years of visiting talented and passionate producers up and down the country. From Yorkshire to the far west of Cornwall and across to Wales, a small but dynamic part of the UK''s wine movement, Oz recommends wines he has enjoyed and found interesting and encourages you to try for yourself.
Winemaking is as old as civilization itself and wine has always been more than just a drink.
For thousands of years, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to its current status as a vast global industry, the history of wine has been directly related to major social, cultural, religious and economic changes. This fascinating and entertaining book takes a look at 100 bottles that mark a significant change in the evolution of wine and winemaking and captures the innovations and discoveries that have had the biggest impact on the history of ''bottled poetry''.
From goatskin to the German Ratskeller casks and invention of the glass wine bottle, from the short onion-shaped bottles of the 1720s to the tall cylindrical bottles of the 1780s, why Bordeaux, Burgundy and Hoch have their own distinctive bottle shape to the distinctive Paul Masson carafe of the 1970s. Other stories cover the first cork-topped bottles to screw caps, bag-in-box, cans and cartons, early wine labels once glue was strong enough, the first wine labels to be produced by a vineyard (and not a merchant as previously) and commissioned artwork by the 20th century''s most iconic artists for labels on high-end bottles; historically important and unique bottles: the oldest unopened, the most expensive sold at auction, the rarest; wines from the oldest vineyard in production, from the driest place on earth, from the highest and lowest vineyards and the most northern and southern. Oz Clarke also writes about the people who have influenced wine through the centuries, from the medieval Cistercian monks of Burgundy who first thought of place as an important aspect of wine''s identity, through scientists like Pasteur and Peynaud who improved key technical aspects of winemaking, to 20th-century giants like Robert Mondavi and Robert Parker Jr. Oz also talks about famous vintages, from the 1727 Rudesheimer Apostelwein to the first Montana Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in 1979 and today''s cult wines from Bordeaux and California.
Word Count - 55,000
Le guide du bordeaux est un ouvrage incontournable pour découvrir l'une des régions viticoles les plus sophistiquées et diversifiées.
Des grands classiques aux prix faramineux du médoc ou de saint-emilion jusqu'aux découvertes de chefs-d'oeuvre inattendus dans des appellations telles que côtes de have, entre-deux-mers, cadillac et autres graves, l'auteur a dégusté des milliers de bordeaux et livre ses conseils d'achat pour tous les budgets et tous les styles.
Pas de jargon compliqué, niveau zéro accepté : comment tirer le meilleur élu choix de Vins que: vous trouvez chef votre caviste : les saveurs : faites le tour de celles que vous préférez, les cépages : le secret de chaque goût et de chaque style, les détails pratiques : l'art de choisir, acheter, servir et déguster- le vin, le vocabulaire du vin : les mots à connaître. Les plats et les vins qui vont ensemble : comment ne pas se tromper Les réions : un tour du monde des réions où l'on fait du Vin Les conseils d'Oz : plus de 300 vins à tester. " Est-ce utile de connaître la différence entre toutes ces bouteilles couchées dans les casiers ? Oh que oui, damned ! Quelques connaissances élémentaires doubleront le plaisir que vous tirerez d'un simple verre de vin, et vous permettront de choisir- ceux que vous préférez vraiment.
Refreshingly witty and readable guide to the world''s most famous wine region.
Every producer in the world with ambitions to make great red wine still looks to Bordeaux for inspiration and the region is brought to life by Oz with his evocative descriptions and personal anecdotes, accompanied by stunning photographs and maps. Oz turns his spotlight on each of the famous Bordeaux wine areas (including St-Emilion, Pomerol, Margaux and Pauillac). He also recommends hundreds of affordable modern Bordeaux wines for drinking today.
Returning to his wine roots, Oz shows how, whatever crises may be affecting the French wine industry in general and the lower end of the market in particular, Bordeaux, is on the whole, in optimistic mode. However much we now appreciate wine from all over the world, there is still nothing quite as magical as the best bottles from the best producers in this historic wine region.
''There is no better introduction to the world''s most dazzling wine region.'' Decanter ''A well-planned, well-executed, approachable book packed with information and illustrations.'' The Sunday Times
Illustrated with photographs of stunning wine landscapes and detailed, maps of key wine countries and regions, this book illustrates and explains the vital connections between wine and its landscape. Fundamental to the understanding of wine is a sense of place knowing which country, which region, which hillside and which vineyard a wine comes from adds enormously to the pleasure of drinking it.
With Red & White , Oz Clarke has reinvented wine writing. This is a book to read for pleasure, rather than merely refer to. Combining fast-paced witty memoir with passionately opinionated guide, Oz pops the cork on his life-long love affair with wine. The best loved wine communicator of our time, Oz Clarke is the guest you want at your table, the person to select the wine, and the ideal drinking companion. He explains how, why & where he fell in love with wine; he explains the essentials of how wine is grown and made today; then takes you into the world's wine regions and introduces you to the wines he loves. Oz reveals how he tastes wine and how you can enjoy wine whatever the budget. He covers with equal care & attention all categories of wine, from the blue-chip to the most affordable. With Red & White , you are in the hands of the best-informed and the most inspirational guide, and you will pick up, without even trying, a wealth of knowledge that Oz is bursting to share with you. With climate change and the move to organic & sustainable practices, wine is evolving faster than ever before. And hundreds of local grape varieties, until recently facing extinction, are also being rediscovered. There have never been so many brilliant & original wines. To discover them, all you need is a glass in your hand, a sense of adventure, and Oz's Red & White as your companion & inspiration!
Oz explains how to get maximum enjoyment out of every bottle you buy, from dealing with broken corks, to learning basic tasting techniques, spotting faulty wine, and matching food and wine, whether at home or in a restaurant.
You don''t need to know all about wine regions or how wine is made to choose wine with confidence. If you like the sound of intense, blackcurranty reds or aromatic whites, this book will tell you how to find these flavours in the wines you buy, regardless of whether the wine is labelled by grape variety or by country. Drinking wine is all about enjoyment. Oz explains how to get maximum enjoyment out of every bottle you buy, from dealing with broken corks, to learning basic tasting techniques, spotting faulty wine, and matching food and wine, whether at home or in a restaurant. In Oz''s down-to-earth guide to all the world''s major wine regions you''ll find everything you need to know to navigate your way round a wine shop or wine website. Oz explores grape varieties, flavours and styles, giving equal consideration to classic wine regions - such as Bordeaux and Chianti - and the newer wine-producing countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Argentina. Do vintages matter? Are the wines good value for money? Oz tells you everything you really need to know. Gradually building your knowledge with expert tips, information boxes and wines to try, this is a complete guide for the beginner wine enthusiast.
Word Count: 55,000
Britain''s best-loved wine writer brings you more information, more recommendations, more facts, passion and opinion than any other comparable guide to wine. Organised in an easy-to-use A-Z format, the entries cover wines, producers, grapes, countries and wine regions from all over the world.
Britain''s best-loved wine writer brings you more information, more recommendations, more facts, passion and opinion than any other comparable guide to wine. Organised in an easy-to-use A-Z format, the entries cover wines, producers, grapes, countries and wine regions from all over the world.
For optimum browsing, the guide includes a handy country by country index as well as a full producer index to help you find over 4000 of the world''s top wine producers and their wines. Detailed vintage charts, with information on which of the world''s top wines are ready for drinking now, can be found on the inside front and back covers.
Oz Clarke est l'un des meilleurs spécialistes mondiaux du vin et l'un des plus aimés ; ses émissions sur la BBC, notamment Food and Drink, sont diffusées dans le monde entier. On lui doit plusieurs best-sellers dont le Guide des Cépages, le Guide du Bordeaux et Oz Clarke nous dit tout sur le vin et ce Guide des Terroirs. Tous confirment sa réputation de grand connaisseur des Vins du monde, érudit et sérieux, mais surtout accessible, agréable à lire et plein d'humour. Avec ses relevés précis de l'état actuel des vignobles et ses 73 cartes panoramiques, le Guide des terroirs d'Oz Clarke entraîne le lecteur dans une visite inédite des grandes régions viticoles du monde, illustre et explique les liens essentiels entre la terre et le vin. En première partie, Oz Clarke rappelle les principes et les méthodes de la viticulture dans le monde. La seconde partie, " Vins et régions viticoles du monde ", constitue le coeur de l'ouvrage. A l'aide de cartes panoramiques aériennes en trois dimensions, chaque terroir peut être découvert dans son environnement de montagnes, de collines, de lacs et de cours d'eau. Ni légendes, ni symboles à interpréter : tout est immédiatement lisible.
Les cépages qui ont colonisé le monde - Plus de 300 variétés de cépages du monde entier, présentées de A à Z. - Des monographies détaillées pour les cépages les plus prestigieux, leur répartition géographique, leur histoire, leur culture, leur vinification. - Les meilleurs producteurs de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Monde, les bonnes bouteilles de tous les pays. - Les principales appellations européennes et les cépages correspondants, autorisés pour leur élaboration. - Un glossaire technique pour comprendre tous les mots du vin. - Un index des noms de cépages et de leurs synonymes. - Plus de 550 documents; photographies de vignobles, de raisins, de vignerons et d'oenologues, peintures, cartes, graphiques, étiquettes. Dans cette nouvelle édition 2010 du guide des cépages, Oz Clarke présente plus de 300 cépages, issus d'une même souche, Vitis vinifiera, classés de A à Z. Il étudie en détail les 17 plus importants, s'arrêtant sur leur histoire, leurs terroirs, leur mode de culture et de vinification, leur diffusion dans le monde. Il met en lumière les hommes qui font la célébrité de tel ou tel cépage, et prodigue des conseils d'achat, dans une sélection internationale des producteurs, revisitant ainsi le monde du vin.
Enfin un guide réellement pratique sur le vin : sans jargon ni fioritures, ne requérant aucune connaissance de base.
Un outil simple et agréable qui vous permettra de choisir et d'apprécier les différents vins qui sont présentement sur le marché. Les saveurs et les styles de vins : Fruité, épicé, vif, intense. La dégustation : Sentir, goûter, observer, évaluer. Les termes oenologiques : Tous ceux qu'il vous faut connaître. L'association des vins et des mets : Principes de base, suggestions. Comment le choisir : Au restaurant, au magasin, sur Internet.
Comment le servir : Ouvrir la bouteille, le décanter, le laisser respirer, les verres. Les régions vinicoles du monde : Descriptions et suggestions.
L'objectif de cet atlas est de transporter le lecteur au coeur des grandes régions viticoles du monde, ce qu'aucun ouvrage sur le vin n'a encore jamais tenté.
Les cartes panoramiques permettent de voir les sites selon un point de vue totalement original : d'en haut. un ouvrage qui prend en compte tous les développements viticoles de la dernière décennie. une couverture sans précédent des aires viticoles qui montent (au chili, en argentine, en uruguay, en californie, en australie et ailleurs), en plus des régions traditionnelles. descartes panoramiques et peintes qui montrent les encépagements les plus récents.
Une collection imposante d'étiquettes, et de bouteilles dont on appréciera les formes variées.
* Oz Clarke, who knows his way round both ends of the market better than anyone, has produced a new guide offering extensive coverage of this diverse wine-making region, from truly classic wines to the more everyday wines...
