"Associations and societies such as the Bordeaux Club are the very acme of civilization. Botticelli and Bach were engaged in the eternal quest for truth and beauty in painting and music, and the Bordeaux Club did the same for viniculture." - Andrew Roberts The story of 12 friends who gathered to share and celebrate the extraordinary wines of Bordeaux. Like-minded in their love of wine, they differed wildly (often alarmingly!) in their personal wealth, life and circumstances - their opinions, always voiced, had the power to ignite anger and divide friendships just as easily as they bound them together. Neil McKendrick, member and minute-taker for 57 of the Club's 70 extraordinary years, weaves the tale of this convivial group with the rigour of a Cambridge academic (he is ex-Master of Gonville and Caius) and the humour of a born raconteur. Alongside the likes of Hugh Johnson, Steven Spurrier and Michael Broadbent, he celebrates the beauty of top-class Bordeaux and the splendour of each setting - from glorious country park to rickety Dickensian boardroom - in which these men were lucky enough to dine, serving up memories of vintages the like of which we will never see again.
Champagne is never a simple glass of fizz... As soon as the cork flies, the first sip reveals a wine of fascinating complexity. For even the most modest non-vintage cuvee, a bevy of blending decisions, multi layers of history and the incalculable climate of this northern corner of France all come into play. In On Champagne the thoughts, opinions and conclusions of the world's finest champagne writers gather to reveal this wine's action-packed trajectory from the myth of its accidental discovery - not in France, we find, but in the cider cellars of England - to the development of a high-tech champagne fit for space travel. It's a journey that starts and ends with capturing that sparkle in a bottle and along the way beguiles us with the nuances of its chalky terrain, the determination of rebels from Ambonnay to Avize, and the mystery of a champagne cellar under the sea. We meet the pioneers who created the great champagnes of the past and the personalities who are 'greening' this landscape, nurturing it through climate change to shape the exquisite champagnes of the future.
Mushrooms includes 16 outstanding botanical illustrations from Leon Dufour's Atlas of Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms (1891). These lifelike colour engravings include the chanterelle and black trumpet mushroom, fit for a delicious meal, and others best left on the forest floor, like the deadly fly agaric. Presented in a handsome box, these notecards are the perfect stationery for the forager or mycophile in your life.
Ferrari is the beating heart of the global sporting phenomenon that is Formula 1. Its founder, Enzo Ferrari, was born on the racetrack as a competition driver before he became a creator of mythical road cars. No other team can inspire the passion or match the stories of triumph and tragedy.
Rainer Schlegelmilch and Ercole Colombo are two of Formula 1's most legendary photographers. They covered the sport from the 1960s onwards, with amazing access inside the Scuderia. Here, for the first time, they come together to pay tribute to Formula 1's most iconic team.
Ferrari: From Inside and Outside features contributions from iconic figures including Piero Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, Stefano Domenicali, Jean Todt and legendary designer Mauro Forghieri. The book is edited by internationally celebrated Formula 1 commentator and Michael Schumacher's biographer, James Allen.
Italian Wines is the English-language version of Gambero Rosso's Vini d'Italia, the world's best-selling guide to Italian wine. It is the result of a year's work by over 60 tasters, coordinated by three curators. They travel around the entire country to taste 45,000 wines, only half of which make it into the guide. More than 2,500 producers have been selected. Each entry brings together useful information about the winery, including a description of its most important labels and price levels in Italian wine shops. Each wine is evaluated according to the Gambero Rosso bicchieri rating, with Tre Bicchieri awarded to the top labels.
The guide is an essential tool for both wine professionals and passionate amateurs around the globe: it provides the instruments for finding one's way in the complex panorama of Italy's wine world.
Le Cinq pays tribute to the very best recipes and affords you the opportunity to experience the immense talent, creativity and incomparable technical mastery of Chef Éric Briffard.
A J-Class yacht is a single-masted racing sailboat, built to the specifications of Nathanael Hereshoff's Universal Rule, the class is considered the peak racers of the era when the Universal Rule determined eligibility in the Amerca's Cup. Nostalgia, fascination and a passion for sailing; the yachts featured in this book were built in the 1930s and have lost none of their magic.
