3 Jan - Today The Book Depository price is back down below £80. It seems that online retailers will keep altering prices. Do please support your local independent bookseller.
27 Dec - And now it's £90 at The Book Depository... See here. Christmas is over, the booksellers are getting fat.
26 Dec - Prices seem to be rising again. The Book Depository (which has generally had the best prices of all, especially for those living outside the UK and US) is now charging £78.92 with free delivery worldwide. Amazon.co.uk are quoting £90 and Amazon.com $110.25.
20 Dec - The Book Depository has reduced its price for our book to the lowest we have ever seen – £70.58, including packing and postage to almost anywhere in the world. See here.
18 Dec - Correction. Waterstones online are offering the book at £76. Thanks to Chris Lake for pointing this out in our article asking for feedback.
16 Dec - Best price we know of currently for Wine Grapes for buyers based in the UK is... chez Berry Bros, who are offering it at £78 (though those buying it online will have to spend a total of at least £100 to qualify for free delivery). Amazon.co.uk seem to change their price every now and again but it is currently £76.80 plus postage. But by far the best sterling price for those living outside the UK in any of these countries is that of the Book Depository, who sell the book at £78.92 with free shipping. (The Book Depository was founded by an former Amazon employee but Amazon bought the company last year.)
13 Dec - A longstanding Purple Pager has with justification raised the issue of Amazon.co.uk's notorious aversion to paying anything like as much UK tax as they should. Those in the UK who would prefer not to patronise Amazon should know that Waterstone's are now offering Wine Grapes at £84 on their website (and, presumably, in their stores?). The only downside is that the website quotes two to three weeks delivery – almost as slow as the fulfilment house Mooma which we were initially recommended by the publishers!
10 Dec - See here for Sarah Ahmed's interview with Julia about Wine Grapes and the pleasures of varietal diversity.
1 Dec - We're particularly thrilled and honoured by Eric Asimov's enthusiastic review in yesterday's New York Times. But see lots more comment in Wine Grapes – what others are saying.
26 Nov - Great comments continue to roll in. See the latest additions to What others are saying. Most unfortunately, the publishers omitted to realise that the book was so enormous that parts of three of the 14 grape family trees would be hidden in the deep gutter. We are, so to speak, gutted by this and have therefore published complete versions of these at Wine Grapes which we hope will at least be helpful.
We are also changing our recommendation of how to order this book in the UK from Penguin's fulfilment house Mooma Market because of complaints that they have been rather slow and we are now recommending either an independent bookshop (long may they thrive) or, for those without very strong arms, Amazon.
21 Nov - Thank you, Stuart Pigott, for describing our book as 'the only important new standard work of recent times; revolutionary!' and Joanna Simon for 'the grape book to end all grape books'.
To celebrate tomorrow's Thanksgiving holiday, we have changed the image on the left to show the American jacket. The contents of the two editions are identical.
Please note that we have now taken delivery of, and managed to sign, all 500 of the second tranche of book plates so that over the next week or two Saint Tam will be sending them out to those who were speedy enough to order them. But I'm afraid that is it.
15 Nov - We are thrilled to announce that our book has just been voted Best Book of 2012 by Wine & Spirits magazine in the US.
Keep following What others are saying for the gratifyingly steady stream of favourable comment on this book monster. Last night I had the pleasure of presenting it to a group of New York's finest sommeliers at a gathering at Terroir wine bar.
13 Nov - More very kind comments on the book from the likes of S Irene Virbila of the Los Angeles Times, Elliott Mackey of the Wine Appreciation Guild, Joelle Thomson in New Zealand, Victor Franco in Spain and other comments from Sweden and Denmark. This book is really getting around!
6 Nov – See below for clues as to how to find our big new book wherever
you are in the world. Today is the day that the American version, identical to the UK one except that its cover and slipcase are dark red rather than porridge colour, is supposed to be in US bookstores – though hurricane Sandy may have slowed the distribution process.
The images on the right, incidentally, were created long before we had the real book (which is actually twice as thick as this) to hand.
5 Nov – Extremely generous reviews continue to stream in. Contributors to What others are saying include Max Allen, Eric Asimov, Fiona Beckett, John Bindels,Jon Bonné, Jim Budd, Sally Easton MW, Andrew Jefford, Henry Jeffreys, Wink Lorch, Elin McCoy, Rose Murray Brown MW, Ronan Sayburn MS and Tom Wark.
26 Oct – We have been overwhelmed by the positive critical response to the book so far. See What others are saying. The latest comment is Tom Wark of Fermentation's 'the most important wine book in years'.
13 Oct - See In the beginning was the grape and The founder vine varieties, both useful overviews of what the book reveals.
12 Oct - I'll be talking about the book at the Cheltenham Literary Festival at 2pm today. See you there? See also details of out three-pronged attack on a Decanter Masterclass on 18 Nov.
10 Oct - Updated with delivery details and postage and packing rates for outside the UK.
3 Oct – See also The inside story of Wine Grapes.
Find out more about Wine Grapes.
We are all too aware of how expensive our mammoth new book Wine Grapes – A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours is at its full price of £120/$175. So we are prepared to guide you towards ways of acquiring it for less (even if it means we earn a lower royalty rate), although we would urge you not to desert those brave and often wonderful independent book shops that still exist despite fierce competition from the online retailers. You can get some idea of the extent of the book in Wine Grapes – a sneak preview.
UK residents who wish to buy at the keenest price and have this very heavy book delivered to their door are recommended to order from Berrry Bros who are offering it at £78, the Book Depository who are offering it at £78.92 including free shipping to an extraordinary array of countries. Amazon.co.uk are now offering the book for £84, including free delivery within the UK.
In Europe the book is available from Amazon.fr in France, Amazon.de in Germany, Amazon.it in Italy, and Amazon.es in Spain. But see also the Book Depository who are offering it at £78.92 including free shipping to an extraordinary array of countries.
US residents can order the US edition (which differs from the UK one only in its darker cover and slipcase) from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or IndieBound.
Canadian residents can order from Amazon.ca or the Book Depository.
Australian residents may like to consult this list of stockists of Wine Grapes. See also the Book Depository.
Others outside the UK are probably best advised to order from the UK-based Book Depository, which offers free delivery worldwide for just £78.92.