Three books that got me into wine
Huon Hooke in Three of a Kind Become a member to view this article
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A career path in wine is often kick-started by reading a book. That’s how it was with me.
After I showed initial interest in the fermented juice of the grape, my parents gave me Max Lake’s Hunter Winemakers as a present. It was a rather odd choice of book, a specialised work on a region of which I’d had no experience, but the writing was so evocative, it sucked me straight in.
Next birthday I was given Hugh Johnson’s The World Atlas of Wine – the original edition, if I remember correctly – and that was it. I never looked back.
We may live in the digital age, but I urge anyone wanting to foster interest in wine to give books.
Here are three books that got me into wine.
Hunter Winemakers Gumtree website
Hunter Winemakers – by Max Lake
Dr Lake was a Sydney hand surgeon who threw in surgery for winemaking and started Lake’s Folly, the first boutique winery in the Hunter. He was also a superb writer, his toolkit including a wonderful economy with words that many writers could learn from, and a colourful vocabulary. This is not Lake’s most famous book by any means, there were many, but its vignettes of life in the Hunter Valley, interviews with old-timers like Audrey Wilkinson, and insights into the life of the boutique winemaker made it sing. The wine region came to life on the page.
The World Atlas of Wine Pinterest
The World Atlas of Wine – Hugh Johnson
Hugh Johnson’s brainwave of using an atlas – a book of maps – to pinpoint vineyards and places, which he used as a springboard for describing the wine regions of the world, was the secret behind this book’s phenomenal success. It’s about to go into its 8th edition – to be released in October this year (with Jancis Robinson as editor/author and yours truly revising the Aussie section). It’s still a great encyclopaedia of the world of wine.
Adventures on the Wine Route. Kermit Lynch website
Adventures on the Wine Route – Kermit Lynch
My favourite wine books are those in which the author writes vividly and lovingly about colourful wine people, and in that respect, this book is a timeless classic. Penned by an American wine importer, probably guilty of ramping his own agencies, but who cares – it’s a great read.
Other books of this kind that I’ve loved are The Accidental Connoisseur by Lawrence Osborne, all of Simon Loftus’s books (The Pike In The Basement, Abe’s Sardines and Other Stories, and Puligny-Montrachet – which is soon to be re-published), and Jonathan Nossiter’s Liquid Memory.
Totally agree with you Huon. I treasure some of my wine books as much as an aged bottle. James Halliday’s 1987 Wine Companion was the start and the more recent Wine Hunter on the great Maurice O’Shea is another. Also a couple of Ralph Steadman’s quirky artistry books are brilliant