A diverse selection of wine books. Photo credits: A.C.
To make the most of the extra reading time this summer, we have reviewed a diverse selection of wine books. Most of them have been published in recent months, but we also wanted to shine a light on other good reads that might have flown under your radar. From encyclopaedias to comics, there's plenty to choose from.
Unless indicated, the books are written in Spanish.
Jürgen Mathäß, Thilo Weimar, Wolf Wilder
ISBN: 978-3-000780-61-5
€39.90 at Amazon
German and English editions
Mallorca through the eyes of three Germans who have fallen in love with the island. The driving force behind the book is Wolf Wilder, co-founder of the Spanish wine import company vinos.de. He moved to the island four years ago and has been running a boutique hotel in Sóller since 2022, serving only Mallorcan wines. The texts were written by Jürgen Mathäß, former editor of the German edition of Vinum magazine and an expert on Spanish wines, and the photographs were taken by Thilo Weimar.
The book provides all the basic information about Mallorca and its wines (a brief history, grape varieties, wine appellations) and recommends wine-friendly shops, bars, restaurants and hotels, including Wilder's Can Coll. The text includes reviews of 55 of Mallorca's more than 100 active wineries (it's hard to believe there are so many), both local and international, and shows the island's appeal for foreign investors, mostly German or Swiss, but also for a wide range of professionals who choose Mallorca as a second or even main residence.
Since local regulations require owners to have at least 1.5 hectares of land for construction, many have decided to devote part of their land to planting vines. There is already a company called WeinWert to help them with this task. In 2023, it looked after 126 ha of vines to produce as many as 183 different wines. The chapter dedicated to some of these microprojects was among the most engaging in the book.
The gallery of characters, each with their own vision and working philosophy, paints a complex portrait of the wine scene in Mallorca. It is a little surprising that some producers, especially two flagship wineries such as 4 Kilos and Ánima Negra, are featured without photos alongside the text. The wine recommendations are diplomatically balanced between international and local varieties. The thorough work that has been done to present what can only be described as the golden age of Mallorcan wines is admirable. The book clearly illustrates this fact.
Several authors
Vadevino Editorial
ISBN: 978-84-125677-3-1
€15 at Proensa.com
This is the ninth edition of the annual monographs that Madrid-based wine journalist Andrés Proensa and his team have been publishing for almost a decade. In this case, the aim is not so much to provide new data on iconic wineries, which, as Proensa himself notes in the introduction, "have published books to honour their history", but on those with intermittent periods of activity, which have experienced more ups and downs, or have had to rely on historical evidence to establish their lineage. A real challenge for survival.
This is still the case, for example, of Berberana, a family winery until the 1970s and now in liquidation. Jerez and Rioja feature prominently in the book, but there is also room for Cava, long-established bulk wine regions such as Jumilla, the Lalanne family in Somontano or the first cooperatives founded in Spain. There are also nostalgic nods to sweet wine producers such as De Müller in Catalonia and Camilo Castilla in Navarra.
The compilation provides a useful framework to put the last 150 years of wine in Spain into context. For those interested in travelling further back in time, the introductory chapter traces the evolution of wineries and winemaking from antiquity to the turn of the 20th century.
Gol and Paco Camallonga
FAP Grand Cru
ISBN: 978-84-19148-70-4
€19 at Amazon
Wine and comics make a good match. Just look at the successful manga series Drops of God, which was adapted for television last year. In Spain, Ricardo Pérez Palacios published a two-part story on the Vila Viniteca blog, but those who have shown the strongest interest in the comic format so far are the French. Bertrand Sourdais appears in El Vigneron de las Tierras de Soria, a comic book illustrated by José Ramón Inchausti, whereas François Passaga, founder of wine importer FAP Gran Cru, has turned his attention to Bordeaux wines with texts by Miguel Gómez Andrea (Gol) and the drawings of Paco Camallonga.
A family reunion is the central story of a journey that begins in Spain with a bottle of Sauternes and a visit to Atrio restaurant in Cáceres, and moves on to some of the most famous châteaux in Bordeaux. This is an excellent opportunity to explore the foundations of the region, its classifications, winemaking philosophy, the en primeur system and the major trends in the area.
In the foreword, leading Spanish producer Telmo Rodríguez compares the Bordeaux of his student years with the present day, following the successful launch of his red wine Yjar at La Place de Bordeaux —he and his wine are featured in a number of vignettes. With no other intention than to entertain and provide useful information, this short story shows how comics can be an effective tool for promoting wine.
Alejandro Muchada
Abalon Books
ISBN: 978-84-125707-2-4
€21.80 at Amazon
I am lucky enough to have a copy of this book signed by Alejandro Muchada. "The joy of sharing a passion for wine and the people who make it possible', he wrote. Indeed, this 95-page publication, whose illustrations are as meaningful as its words, is all about joy. There is nothing conclusive about it, nor does it go into detail about the work in the vineyards or in the cellar. Instead, it describes the work of a winegrower and what it entails, the skills and attitude required, often with a carefree naivety: "A grape grower must possess a spiritual side; he must be aware of what transcends him (...) He believes and trusts in the invisible, just like The Little Prince." He also writes: "Winemakers must be like Peter Pan, something of their childhood self remains alive and gives them free rein."
This book is a state of mind, an intent, the positive attitude that seems to be inherent in Alejandro Muchada and which is now shared through its pages for the enjoyment of those who are open to it.
Muchada's original project included his own watercolours, but the final designs were commissioned from Ismael Pinteño under the artistic direction of Pedro Hernández. Alejandro's two original pieces, included in the afterword by editor Jon Sarabia, convey an infectious joy.
Marc Picanyol
Sílex Ediciones
ISBN: 978-84-19661-91-3
30,40 € La Casa del Libro
Marc Picanyol is a journalist who began his career in music, later worked as a chef and finally turned his attention to writing about food and wine, creating the blog Booonissim.cat. The idea for this book, his first, was inspired by a white Rioja, after realising that it had been made by a South African winemaker. I thought the man deserved a story, to find out about his life, what led him to settle in Spain, the process of adapting, his thoughts on Spaniards, etc.," he explains.
The South African is Bryan MacRobert of MacRobert & Canals, who appears in the first chapter of the book. Other characters include Swiss producer Daphne Glorian, Melanie Hickman from the US, French winemakers Didier Belondrade, Bertrand Sourdais, Antony Terryn and Gregory Pérez, the 'Flying Scotsman' Norrel Robertson, Rafael de Haan from England, Peter Sisseck from Denmark, Dominik Huber from Germany and the Michelini i Mufatto family from Argentina.
The photographs are the work of Estanis Núñez (perhaps a different presentation would have enhanced the impact of the images?) We mention two sentences from Luis Gutiérrez's foreword: ''It's often an outsider who shows us what we have under our noses'' and ''It's not exactly the worst who settle here, on the contrary... they're the very best!
The characters are given plenty of space to tell their stories: their backgrounds, what brought them to Spain, their connection to a particular region, how they've adapted (not an easy process, by any means) and how they've shaped their wine styles. Picanyol gets close enough to show the personal story of each of these men and women, who are now "deeply rooted" in Spain and therefore in the production of quality Spanish wine. It is a shame that the poor editing detracts from the reading experience. However, the content is compelling enough to justify an English edition for international readers.
Ana Gómez Díaz-Franzón
Universo de Letras
Volume I. ISBN: 978-84-17435-16-5
€33,42 at La Casa del Libro
Volume II. ISBN: 978-84-18003400-8
€36,75 at Amazon
Volume III. ISBN: 978-84-1857081-0
€36,68 at Amazon
This comprehensive study by Ana Gómez Díaz-Franzón, who holds a doctorate in art history from the University of Seville, is based on her dissertation. In its scope and scale, it echoes the research of Alain Huetz de Lemps on his book The Vineyards and Wines of North-Western Spain. In a similar vein, Díaz-Franzón has published the book herself, in this case through the self-publishing service of Editorial Planeta. The different volumes will be published between 2018 and 2020.
The author explores a subject she knows well, having devoted most of her research to the history and culture of Andalusian wines, especially those from Jerez and Sanlúcar, her birthplace. The three volumes contain a staunch defence of illustrated and commercial design against its traditional status as a 'minor art', as well as the printing techniques behind it: lithography and photo-engraving. The date chosen to begin the study, 1868, was the year in which the first label was officially registered in the Sherry Triangle. The documentary archives of institutions and wine producers, such as the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office or González Byass, as well as private collections and those of wineries, were the main source of material for the research, which was not easy due to the ephemeral nature of many of the pieces.
The exhaustive analysis examines the advertising messages, their senders and recipients, the channels of communication, the lithographic production and materials used, the illustrators and designers, the trademarks and the different components of the labels. It also classifies the themes and their representation over time. It is a pleasure to lose oneself in the pages of this book, simply looking at the posters and labels or reading the in-depth analysis, full of stories and well-documented historical references.
Díaz-Franzón examines an entire era, showing the social and cultural patterns that prevailed at each moment and the iconographic heritage that was created over time. As she writes in the introduction, "the advertising image has come to identify and differentiate, visually and socially, the wines of today's Sherry Triangle."distinguish, visually and socially, the wines from the current Sherry Triangle."
Bullipedia
elBullifoundation
ISBN: 978-84-09-53628-3
€67 at Vila Viniteca
After addressing viticulture, winemaking, the wine market, the role of the sommelier, wine in the restaurant, tasting techniques and sensory analysis, Volume 7 of the Wine Bullipedia looks at the history of wine. It traces a timeline from the emergence of plant life, then the vine and its domestication, through the role of wine in different civilisations and historical periods to the present day. It can be read either in chronological order or by focusing on specific themes: viticulture, winemaking, trade, wine service or the cultural and experiential aspects of wine. At the end of each chapter there is a recipe for each historical period: from the fermented wild fruit that supports the theory of the "drunken monkeys", to the most famous wine of Egypt, to the hippocras of the Middle Ages, to the champagne drunk by the tsars.
This is probably the most engaging volume in the series because of the wide range of topics covered and the sheer interest it is likely to arouse among a wider audience. As always, the book is packed with maps, charts, illustrations and photographs. One example is the summary with diagrams of André Julien's views on Spanish wines as published in his early 19th-century work Topographie de tous les vignobles connus.
The book has been put together by the same team of previous volumes: Bruno Tanino, Rubén López Cortés and Silvia Culell, under the supervision of Ferran Centelles, plus the contribution of chef Carlos Casillas of Barro restaurant in Ávila and Santiago Vivanco (Museo del Vino Vivanco) who has acted as curator.
At the moment there is no English version, but this is likely to arrive at some point, as cava producer Juvé & Camps has so far financed the translation of the first two volumes. We would appreciate a digital edition. Of course, the encyclopaedic edition is impressive, but it is simply impossible to carry the books in your handbag.
