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Book reviews 2017 – a guide

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14 January 2018 Very many apologies. Like all our guides, this was meant to have been a free article but owing to an oversight, perhaps our eagerness to publish it, we inadvertently failed to make it free. Kindly note that it is now, at last, out from behind the paywall.

8 January 2018 Jancis writes There has been a massively positive response –  on our Members' forum, on Twitter and by email – to Tam's reviews of more than 40 wine-related books published last year. In the 13 articles listed below, she treated us to almost 60,000 words of her own – surely the most thorough book reviews known to man or woman? We plan to publish three of Tam's own favourites free from next week. 

18 December 2017 Tam writes Wine writing in 2017 has, as usual, provided an eclectic mix, from the sublime to the surreal. Literally (we have a book by Salvador Dalí). There has been an uncommon focus on champagne for some reason, with no fewer than seven books on that one wine alone. There have been a couple of updates of old classics, a book revived from the seventies, and some cutting-edge, frontier science. Food gets a look-in this year, although it is getting more and more attention in the wine books themselves. There are several outstanding books, for different reasons, and I've put an asterisk by the books that I personally would buy for my own bookshelf.

Below is a list of all the books I'll be reviewing over the next three weeks. Those grouped under a date have already been published and you can follow the link to read the reviews; below that you can see what's still to come.

Monday 18 December 2017
Essi Avellan's Champagne: a guide for champagne lovers and gourmet travellers , Essi Avellan
The Ultimate Guide to Champagne, Liz Palmer
I Love Champagne, Davy Zyw

Tuesday 19 December 2017
Champagne: a tasting journey, Kaaren Palmer
* Champagne: the essential guide, Peter Liem
* Champagne: the future uncorked, Gert Crum
* Bursting Bubbles: a secret history of Champagne, Robert Walters

Wednesday 20 December 2017
*The New Wine Rules, Jon Bonné
101 Wine FAQs, Simon Woods
This is Not a Wine Guide, Chris Morrison

Thursday 21 December 2017
*Essential Winetasting, Michael Schuster
Wine: It's Not Rocket Science, Ophélie Neiman 
The World of Wine, Oz Clarke 

Friday 22 December 2017
*The Wine Dine Dictionary, Victoria Moore
Food and Wine Pairing in Three Steps, Jordan Shuler
Wine Lover's Kitchen, Fiona Beckett
*Reinventing the Wheel: milk, microbes and the fight for real cheese, Bronwen & Francis Percival

Tuesday 26 December 2017
*Neuroenology: how the brain creates the taste of wine, Gordon M Shepherd 
*Wine: myths and reality (second edition), Benjamin Lewin

Wednesday 27 December 2017
A Glass of Wine, A Breath of Fresh Air, Jean-Pierre Frick
*Rosé All Day: the essential guide to your new favourite wine, Katherine Cole 
The Dirty Guide to Wine: following flavors from ground to glass, Alice Feiring
*Wine Revolution: the world's best organic, biodynamic & natural wines, Jane Anson

Thursday 28 December 2017
9000 Years of Wine: a world history, Rod Phillips
Divine Vintage: following the wine trail from Genesis to the modern age, Randall Heskett & Joel Butler
The Wines of Gala, Salvador Dalí

Friday 29 December 2017
Hermitage Chave Héritage, Thierry Weber, Christophe Bohème and Louis Renardat-Fache 
Languedoc Roussillon: the wines and winemakers, Paul Strang 
*Wine in Lisbon, Ana Cristina Marques

Tuesday 2 January 2018
The Wines of Canada, Rod Phillips
Sipping Santa Barbara: recommended wines and producers, Charine Tan and Dr Matthew Horkey
The Winemakers of Paso Robles, Julia Pérez

Wednesday 3 January 2018
Tasting Georgia: a food and wine journey in the Caucasus, Carla Capalbo
Vinologue Georgia: a guide to the cradle of wine, Miquel Hudin and Daria Kholodilina
Terra Benedicta: the land of Hungarian wine, Gabriella Mészáros, Gábor Rohály and András Nagymarosy
Cracking Croatian Wine: a visitor-friendly guide, Dr Matthew Horkey and Charine Tan 

Thursday 4 January 2018
*Cork Dork, Bianca Bosker 
Glass Half Full, Caro Feely 
Slave to the Vine, Darren Delmore

Friday 5 January 2018
In Vino Duplicitas: the rise and fall of a wine forger extraordinaire, Peter Hellman
Quality Time at St-Chinian, Patrick Masterson