Craig McGill at work on Wine Dogs. Pete Herring

It’s pinot noir week, but if there is one area where the name pinot is missing it’s in the names of dogs.

In spite of Wine Dogs Australia photographer and co-publisher Craig McGill’s assertion that Pinot and Chardonnay were popular names for winery dogs, the evidence shows otherwise. After a scan of the latest volume of Wine Dogs Australia 6 (actually the 8th volume of Australian winery dogs) which contains pictures of the dogs of 150 wineries, I could only find one Chardy, no Chardonnays and no Pinots. Perhaps they are more popular in American wineries. (I seem to recall, however, that the late Dr John Middleton of Mount Mary had black and white Labs, named pinot and chardonnay.)

There is quite a list of wine-inspired dog names, though.

Fino, Fronti, Merlot, Muscat, Sherry, Shiraz, Chambourcin (I’d score that zero), Rizza and Fizz. There were two Bonneaus – evidently owned by people who either love or wish they could afford Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne.

Figeac and Sarmassa are bordering on the obscure.

The most common names in the latest edition are Poppy, Molly and Milo; also Sunny, Bella, Missy and Lily.

My prize for originality goes to Chewbacca, a Labradoodle who hangs out at Hardy’s Tintara winery.

I also liked Grampians Estate’s one-eyed support for the Geelong Cats football team. They have a Selwood and a Dangerfield—a Kelpie and a Border Collie. Good sheepdogs, no doubt. (Pet hates: Collingwood supporters, of course.)

Frankly, I reckon a dog must have a name that carries, so you can call him or her. “Come behind, Chambourcin!” or “Down, Jazzamatazz!” just don’t work.

Dangerfield would of course be shortened to Danger, when he’s rounding up sheep.

Wine Dogs’ Craig McGill and Susan Elliott have been publishing winery dog books for more than 20 years. They claim 23 international best sellers in a row. They have published 8 Australian collections, 5 California, 3 USA, one Oregon, one Italy, two New Zealand, as well as Footy Dogs, Brew Dogs and Wine Cats.

Wine Dogs Australia 6 is available in many wineries for AUD $50. Or email orders@winedogs.com.

As late as the mid 1970s Château Margaux was sold for a minimal price. Château Margaux

Anybody at all interested in Bordeaux and its wines would find it well worthwhile reading this classic, written by English writer Nick Faith, first published in 1978 with a revised edition in 1999.

If you think the current woes of Bordeaux are anything new, the history teaches us that Bordeaux has had dramatic ups and downs throughout its long and turbulent history and indeed, the recent period of tremendous prosperity and huge prices for the top classified wines is a relatively recent phenomenon. For most of its history pre the 1970s, Bordeaux seems to have spent substantially more time in the red than in the black.

As a financial journo, Faith may seem disproportionately interested in the financial side of the Bordeaux trade: the size of the harvests, the shenanigans of the traders, and the buying and selling of properties and the trading prices of the wines. But Bordeaux is (and has always been) such a commodity, we can readily understand a financial journo being fascinated by it.

Through the prism of the trade, we get a very good picture of the many aspects of Bordeaux. From the 17^th century, when wine was pretty much only drunk by the royal, the noble and wealthy, to the late 1990s, it’s a wild ride. Newcomers to ‘claret’ will be fascinated by the frequency with which famous châteaux were sold by owners who were strapped for cash. As late as the mid 1970s Château Margaux was sold for a minimal price— ‘one of the greatest bargains in the history of the Gironde’—as the shipper Ginestet was forced to flog it off. Fortunately it was snapped up by the Mentzelopoulous family, who ushered in massive improvements.

The Winemasters of Bordeaux. Amazon UK

One of the most extraordinary tales in the book involves the scandal that engulfed the family firm of Cruse in 1974 which resulted in the company being put on very public trial and one of its members committing suicide. Another is the many crafty manoeuvrings of Baron Philippe de Rothschild, including those that culminated in his Château Mouton-Rothschild being elevated to first growth ranking. Through it all, the tension between the growers and the traders, especially the so-called Chartronnais (the merchants who operated from the Quai des Chartrons in Bordeaux city), is a continuous theme. As is the crucial influence since the earliest times of various foreigners, especially the Dutch, Germans, British and Irish.

Perhaps the most shocking thing for those new to Bordeaux wine is that as recently as the 1970s Bordeaux wines were widely adulterated (and mostly improved) with wine from other regions.

It’s a great read and highly recommended. Copies can be found online and in some second-hand bookshops.

An underground cellar in Burgundy during the war. donandpetiekladstrup.com

This is an oldie but a goodie. Indeed, Wine & War could be called a classic. It was published 23 years ago and is often cited as one of the most compelling and readable wine books ever written.

The book traces of the Second World War from the points of view of several French wine producers, from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace and the Loire Valley. In particular, it highlights the devastating effect of the German occupation of France from 1940 to 45 and, through that lens, the entire French nation. Even if you aren’t that interested in the wine side of the story, it’s a novel and worthwhile way to approach the story of the French nation at war with Germany.

I had never appreciated, for example, how draconian the French Vichy government was against its own people, how members of the Resistance were treated by some of their own countrymen or how ‘collaborators’ were hauled before a tribunal (and even executed) after the war. It’s also interesting how sympathetic some German wine traders were to the French vignerons: several were close friends with the French who supplied them before, during and after the war. Some were even related.

In Alsace, people who considered themselves French suddenly had to ‘flick a switch’ and become German—even join the German army and fight their own countrymen. In the venerable Hugel family, two brothers found themselves fighting against each other, on opposite sides.

We read the stories of heroes like Bernard de Nonancourt, of Champagne Laurent-Perrier, and Gaston Huet of Domaine Huet in Vouvray. We also read the story of how the city of Paris and the Quai des Chartrons in Bordeaux were spared from what might have been complete destruction as the Germans retreated in 1945 after losing the war. The German commander who had the power to raze Paris disobeyed his orders—a potentially capital offence—for which the world must be forever grateful.

We also hear about the Jewish wine producers such as the Rothschilds of Bordeaux. And May-Eliane Miaihle de Lencquesaing (of Château Pichon-Lalande) and her family’s tribulations both during the occupation, and then afterwards, cleaning up the mess the Nazis left behind. There’s the tragic story of high-profile Bordeaux negociant Louis Eschenauer, who was jailed after the war for ‘economic collaboration’ with the Germans.

Wine & War book. donandpetiekladstrup.com

Perhaps the best-known stories of this time are those of the many vignerons and proprietors who hid the treasured bottles of their great vintages from the German occupiers—who were looting the cellars of France’s greatest estates. As with the Drouhins of Burgundy, wine was often hidden in underground tunnels where brick walls were hurriedly built to hide the bottles even as the Germans were marching into Beaune.

A theme that emerges repeatedly is the moral and spiritual value of the wine industry to France at this time. A large number of French were involved in the wine industry at some level; wine was economically vital to the nation; wine was symbolic of Frenchness at this time of extreme hardship; and because most young men were involved in the war, there was a massive shortage of labour to work the vineyards.

The cliché is that the beginning of war is marked by a terrible vintage, and the end of war is marked by a great vintage. And so it was with 1939 and 1945.

It’s a fascinating story, beautifully told.

Wine & War: The Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure, by Don and Petie Kladstrup, published in 2001 by Hodder & Stoughton

Tyson Stelzer promises a warts-and-all book in which ‘no punches are pulled’. The Champagne Guide

The indefatigable Tyson Stelzer’s latest edition of his The Champagne Guide (Edition VII) has been released and it is—astonishingly—more than 50% bigger than the previous edition.

Weighing in at 3.4kg, it gives the Oxford Companion to Wine a run for its money. It’s more than two inches thick and weighs more than a magnum of Champagne, Stelzer says. (Alas, not having a magnum to hand I’ll have to take his word for it.)

With 880 pages and nearly half a million words (enough for six average-size novels, he says) it is a tour de force.

There are 1,260 wine reviews from 142 producers, and 43 of the producers are new to the book. The profiles are in-depth, and what were lengthy chapters in the previous edition are even longer now. Louis Roederer gets 28 pages!

Champagne vineyards and buildings are especially photogenic, and the book is richly decorated with colour photographs taken by the author himself. The superb cover artwork is by a family member, Dr Cameron Stelzer.

No doubt some readers will go straight to the back of the book where all wines tasted are listed by point-score (out of 100), from the top down. There you find that 10 wines have been anointed with the perfect score, two from Billecart-Salmon, two from Louis Roederer, two from Krug, one each from Bollinger, Dom Pérignon, Salon and Veuve Clicquot.

It’s a pity—albeit understandable—that most of these are well and truly gone from the shelves, but that is understandable and I share the author’s passion for mature Champagne.

The Champagne Guide Edition VII The Champagne Guide

Three of these older 100-pointers are from the great 1996 vintage, incidentally: 1996 Krug Vintage, Salon S, Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque, Bollinger Vielles Vignes Françaises, and Dom Pérignon Plenitude 2.

Stelzer promises a warts-and-all book in which ‘no punches are pulled’, and on the bottom of the list we find several wines below the ‘faulty’ 85 points.

The real value of the book, however, is the house profiles and the great depth of insight they reveal into the producers themselves.

Is there any good value left in Champagne? Stelzer states blandly that discount supermarket brands ‘were never worth drinking anyway’, and there are no recommended wines left in his single-$ category (under EUR €25 or AUD $60). In the next category, EUR €25-50 (AUD $60-100), there are 40 ‘best wines’ (scoring 94 points or more) including four wines with 96 points: Bollinger Special Cuvée, Jacquesson Cuvée 735, Lanson Gold Label Vintage 2008 and Marc Hébrart Mes Favourites Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru.

This book is a breathtaking achievement. That it’s all the work of an Australian who lives in Brisbane, a long way from France, is all the more remarkable.

The Champagne Guide Edition VII, by Tyson Stelzer. AUD $119.95

Distributor: Hardie Grant. Available in bookstores and fine wine shops in Australia and the UK, or direct from stelzer@winepress.com.au

A leather-bound limited edition is available from the author.

Anne Krebiehl MW Circle of Wine Writers

I recently read and enjoyed this compact 86-page work by an author who shares her considerable knowledge and passion for pinot noir.

Whether it is unravelling the mystery of Burgundy labels, charting the history of pinot noir, planning a trip to the lesser-known pinot noir vineyards of Europe, trying to make sense of the major pinot noir clones or choosing the perfect food match with a treasured bottle, this monograph will be of use.

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of all of the statistics quoted but I can say that those relating to New Zealand are both current (as of 2022) and error-free.

Krebiehl has an engaging and lucid writing style that makes her monograph a good read.

To purchase a copy go to the *IWFS website where it is also available as an e-book. It’s GBP £9.99 per copy plus GBP £2 for orders outside the UK.

Pinot Noir Around the World by Anne Krebiehl MW (A monograph published by the *International Wine & Food Society)

Andrew Caillard MW. The Australian Ark

Let me state from the outset: I am in awe of what my friend Andrew Caillard MW has achieved with his three-volume opus, The Australian Ark.

I now understand why I seldom see him.

He’s been working on this massive task—on and off—for nearly 20 years, and the three-volume set runs to more than 350,000 words.

It is simply the most comprehensive and detailed history of wine in Australia that has ever been written, by a wide margin.

It’s doubtful whether any other country outside the ‘Old World’ has anything comparable.

Caillard is a master of wine, a wine writer, author of many other books, taster, former wine auctioneer, sometime wine producer, and all-round wine expert, but the writing is just one part of this audacious work. What takes the breath away immediately upon picking it up, is the quality of the production and the beauty of the presentation. The range and depth of photographs and illustrations is striking and the look of the books is sumptuous. Tens of thousands of dollars were paid in publishing rights alone.

These volumes constitute a work of art in themselves and this is no surprise as Caillard has a well-developed aesthetic sense. He is an accomplished painter into the bargain (and some of his canvases appear in the Ark).

That the author has a powerful sense of history is everywhere apparent. Although he was not born in Australia his mother was Australian and his forebears include the Reynell family who established Chateau Reynella in McLaren Vale. The Reynell family died out, no thanks to tragic war casualties, but the name lives on, in the wine and in the name of the Reynell selection of cabernet sauvignon vines that is particularly prized in South Australia.

It would be presumptuous to attempt a proper review of this work without reading all or most of it. Like most readers, I suspect, I’ve been grazing (rather than bingeing) on it over recent weeks. It’s rather like browsing the internet: you look up something specific, and an hour later you realise you’ve spent that hour reading, and been totally engrossed. In fact, the Ark can be used as either a reference work or a full-on read.

The Ark comes in a boxed set and is available in three forms: softback (in a plastic box), cloth-bound hard-back (in a cloth-bound box) or leather-bound. Prices are AUD $199, AUD $399 and AUD $999.

• Volume 1 covers 1788–1900: The Colonial Era
• Volume 2 covers 1901-1983: Federation to the Modern Era
• Volume 3 covers 1983–present day: Contemporary Times, Recollections and Perspectives.

The Australian Ark volumes. The Australian Ark

The scope of the Ark is all-encompassing. It covers trends in viticulture, winemaking, wine science, the market and the development of wine regions. It details the history of many of the leading wineries, and their prominent wines. It talks about notable wine personalities, noteworthy events, the wine commentariat… few stones are left unturned. It deals in an up-to-date way with the colonisation of Australia and what that meant for the indigenous population, and how the wine industry interacted with the original Australians.

Most of this we might expect in such a grand history, but there are many other inclusions that are a bonus. Lists are scattered throughout—of grapevine importations, of notable Roseworthy graduates, of wines shown at early European exhibitions. The memorabilia from the Macarthurs and Camden Park is extensive. Early pictures and photos are highly evocative of early times: photos such as the building of the Gnadenberg church and the All Saints castle, the Tahbilk winery in the 1880s and many 19^th century working pictures at Best’s, for example. And many fine paintings, such as Hans Heysen’s of Pewsey Vale.

Tables include:

-Australian Vinestock Transmission 1788-2023 which lists the grape varieties in use, who first imported them and when.

-Australia’s Surviving Old Vine Plantings ca 1843 – 1952. This astonishing list runs to 13 pages. It begins with Langmeil’s 1943 Freedom Vineyard shiraz, and declares that Australia has the largest area of surviving 19^th and early 20^th century grapevine plantings in the world.

This is truly a treasure not only for the wine industry but for any wine lover with an interest in history.

*Latest news: The Australian Ark will be offered for sale through the French-based wine trading company La Place de Bordeaux.

50 Years, 50 Stories offers a great read but can also double as an attractive coffee table book. Real NZ Books FaceBook

You don’t have to enjoy drinking Marlborough sauvignon blanc to appreciate this book … but it helps.

Montana Wines held an official planting of grapevines in Marlborough on August 24 1973. I was there. I still have the official program for that day. It seemed such a momentous event at the time. It was a high-high-risk venture that looked even riskier when three-quarters of the un-irrigated vines died in the first summer drought they experienced.

Tessa Anderson traces the changing fortunes of Marlborough sauvignon blanc during a roller-coaster ride over the past half-century. These fascinating stories curated by Anderson filled many gaps and reminded me of the many characters involved in making and marketing wines that made the world sit up and take notice.

Although Marlborough sauvignon blanc is the hero, Anderson paints with a fairly broad brush. Here are some of my favourite stories.

• “The history of sauvignon blanc in New Zealand” by Ross Spence, Matua Valley (sauvignon’s little-known genesis).
• “Frank Yukich” The father of Marlborough sauvignon.
• “Cloudy Bay” Aussie trail-blazer David Hohnen.
• “The Awatere Valley” A sub-regional late-starter.
• “Oz Clarke” A view from the UK.
• “No lack of mojo” View from US critic, Matt Kramer.
• “How did a NZ wine company attract famous names to partner with them?” Celebrity endorsements.
• “Vineyard Irrigation: A New Zealand first” Water or die.
• “The emergence of grapegrower labels” Adding value.
• “Shake, rattle and roll” Coping with quakes.
• “Water water everywhere and still we have to harvest: the 1995 vintage” The big wet.

50 Years, 50 Stories (NZD $75) offers a great read but can also double as an attractive coffee table book, thanks to the photographic prowess of Kevin Judd and Jim Tannock. Christmas present solved.

Winemaker and author Peter Hubscher. Tironui Music Trust

This is the most engaging book I have read in a long time. It is a biography written by a remarkable man. I cannot think of anyone who has had a greater impact on the New Zealand wine industry.

Hubscher started as a winemaker for Montana Wines in 1973 (now Brancott Estate, owned by the French group, Pernod Ricard), was promoted to managing director in 1991 and retired in 2001.

“The wine years have been something of a worry as I feel no adequate record exists of the transition the industry made from its foundation built on New Zealand fortified plonk to the time that Montana flourished and led the industry in so many areas. My response has been to write a book to record both the hellish times that occurred in New Zealand’s wine making infancy, and the pride in the shared achievements of so many people in creating a great local company that was internationally recognised but unfortunately no longer exists,” he writes.

Front cover of A Vintner’s Tale. Hartill PR

A Vintner’s Tale* takes the reader back to the dark days of Cold Duck, sherry made by adding sugar to grape skins and the dreaded Poulet Poulet, an orange-flavoured sparkling wine that probably still ranks as the company’s greatest product failure.

It’s a wine marketer’s manual that should be read by everyone who makes, markets and drinks wine. The book is threaded with Hubscher’s dry humour that makes it a good read. I read it over two evenings not once but twice.

Marlborough has just celebrated its 50th anniversary since vines were first planted there. A less celebrated fact is that most of the vines died after a severe drought the following year. The re-planted vines thrived once irrigation was established, leading to the world’s most successful new wine brand in the past 50 years.

Despite its current success Hubscher believes that the days of Marlborough sauvignon blanc are numbered. I cannot disagree, but given the present healthy state of the international market it may be quite some time before ‘savvy’ turns up its tendrils.

*A Vintner’s Tale, by Peter Hubscher. Nationwide Book Distributors (NZD $50)

An eloquent talker, Sam Neill also proves himself to be an eloquent writer. @twopaddocks Twitter/X

Sam Neill is that rare thing, an actor who also produces wine. Well, I suppose there will now be a flood of mail pointing out other actors who’ve made wine. Gerard Depardieu in France, Fess Parker in California, and there’s the odd director: Francis Ford Coppola comes to mind.

I’ve enjoyed many Sam Neill movies: Dean Spanley, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and The Piano are just three – and those all happen to be New Zealand films, of course. He is a man of the world but he is at heart a very proud Kiwi and his favourite place is Central Otago. As he puts it, it was a miraculous stroke of luck that the place he most likes to be on this planet is also a place that grows great pinot noir, which is his grand passion. Sam was born and raised on the South Island. He didn’t move very far.

I’ve also enjoyed many a Sam Neill pinot noir. His brand is Two Paddocks, and The Fusilier is the one to get, if you can find it. Failing that, any of the other Two Paddocks pinot noirs, even the cheapie which is unpretentiously named Picnic.

As Neill is constantly on the move, on film shoots in various parts of the world, he doesn’t actually make the wine. He has a loyal team of people who run his farm, where he grows animals and lavender and trees and other things. Dean Shaw, at Central Otago Wine Co, has been his winemaker for more than 25 years.

Sam Neill, now in his mid-’70s, is presently fighting cancer, and this diagnosis shocked him into writing his memoirs, which he’s done very well. The 400-page hardback is predictably more about moviemaking than winemaking, and that would be reason enough to read the book, but there is also a lot about his love affair with wine.

An eloquent talker, he also proves himself to be an eloquent writer. And entertaining, witty and self-effacing. He seems genuinely surprised that a no-hoper kid from Dunedin ended up world-famous and acting opposite the most exalted people in cinema. He’s equally amazed that he’s managed to produce beautiful wine.

There are some marvellous stories, such as the one about how he came to taste his first great wine and discover Burgundy. The legendary actor James Mason, who he’d never even met, but who’d admired his work, rang him up and invited him to come and stay at his home in Switzerland. He proceeded to convince Neill that he should get an agent, suggested his next film role (in Omen), and coincidentally served him a Gevrey-Chambertin at dinner. Neill, who’d only ever drunk bag-in-box, was gobsmacked, and blurted “What on earth is this?” to which Mason replied: “This is Burgundy my boy, and don’t forget it.” So began Sam Neill’s enduring fascination for pinot noir, which he calls the greatest grape on earth.

It’s often struck me that animals, and occasionally wine, occupy a strong place in Neill’s life and his movies. He claims his best friends are Australian actor Bryan Brown and a pig, not necessarily in that order. In Dean Spanley he plays a priest who reverts to his previous life as a spaniel after drinking his favourite wine, improbably in darkest NZ, a sweet Hungarian Tokaji. It is a clever and witty story.

Neill says the first New Zealand dry table wine he ever tasted was a McWilliam’s Bakano, a tart, insipid effort, weakly red in colour, made from hybrid grapes. It was also my first New Zealand red wine, purchased from a supermarket in Leeton where I was working in the ‘70s. Things have improved radically in New Zealand since those days.

He writes about the first taste he had of his own wine: the day a dozen bottles arrived at his home in Queenstown containing his first vintage, 1997, and he and his wife opened the bottle with much trepidation, to find it was not just good, it was very good indeed.

“That was one of the single greatest moments of my life—another of those moments that change everything”.

Did I Ever Tell You This? A memoir by Sam Neill, published by Text, 2023, hardback AUD $50

How to Drink Australian has just been released. Auswinelegends Instagram

When I was starting out in the 1970s, eager to know more about wine, the one book everyone had to have was Len Evans’s Complete Book of Australian Wine, published in 1976.

Now we have a book that is today’s equivalent of that important reference work.

An outstanding new introductory book on Australian wine has just been released: How to Drink Australian, by sommeliers Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross. Published by Murdoch Books, it’s a fairly large, hard-backed book of 495 pages, weighs in at 2 kg and costs AUD $80.

There are several other writers who contributed, and the text is superbly augmented with detailed maps by Martin von Wyss, who has previously published glovebox maps of Australian wine regions.

The text traverses the country region by region, is rich in detail about soils, climate, history and people, and within each region profiles a handful of the most prominent producers.

Lopes and Ross are a married couple, both Master Sommeliers, who both worked at New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park. Subsequently, Lopes was wine director at Attica, Melbourne, while Ross was beverage director for the Rockpool group. They now live back in the US where they run an importing business, Legend Imports, which specialises in Australian wines.

Each regional chapter starts with the Introduction that deftly and concisely documents the history of the area, then a section titled Evolution of Wine, all about the region’s development during its history, then Lay of the Land, which predictably focuses on the geography, geology and climate; and finally, Hubbub, which brings us up-to-date with current goings-on in a chatty, almost gossipy way.

Amongst these pages packed with information are the outstanding and very up-to-date maps of Martin von Wyss, as well as fact boxes containing statistics and climate data.

Finally, there are the Producers pages. Inevitably, these are limited by space considerations. The selections tend to feature a high proportion of newer, younger producers, a choice which may vex some readers hunting for their established favourites. Getting the balance right is a tricky thing, and it’s important to back one’s hunches and include some of the people who are likely to be an important part of a region’s future. It’s a good approach. Example: in Margaret River, the 21 producer profiles include Blind Corner, Corymbia, Dormilona, LAS Vino, Si Vintners and Wines of Merritt, but not Fraser Gallop, McHenry Hohnen, Stella Bella or Ashbrook. To be fair, most of those that narrowly missed out are at least mentioned in the ‘And don’t forget…’ column at the end.

After reading several chapters at random I found very little to quarrel with: the depth of knowledge is outstanding and the copy is very readable; the writers are obviously very well informed. A lot of time and research has gone into this book.

The one thing that consistently niggled was the pen drawings of winemakers, which seldom look anything like their subjects! Deserving of support though art is, photographs would have served better. There is also a judicious sprinkling of colour photographs, and the style of the book is enhanced by a matt finish (as opposed to gloss).

This is an outstanding piece of work. If there is one book that anyone wanting to learn more about Australian wine should have, this is it.

And it took two Americans to deliver it!