The Wine Bible

August 1, 2015

Multiaward-winning writer MacNeil (Wine, Food & Friends) here updates her comprehensive exploration of wine. She starts with the basics (grape varietals, production methods, food pairings) before traversing the world. France comes first (and at greatest length), as is usual in wine books, while a brief section on Asian producers (India, Japan, China) concludes the journey. The volume is not exhaustive--while Mexican wine is covered in a four-page section, there are curious omissions such as Lebanon, Algeria, Croatia, and Romania. Maps and illustrations add helpful detail, particularly in showing labels from recommended producers. MacNeil's prose is enlightening yet breezy, and the many sidebars provide terrific nuggets of supplementary and sometimes curious information. VERDICT Straddling the line between reference resource and leisure read, this guide merits a home in many libraries. Recommended where wine is a topic of interest.--Peter Hepburn, Coll. of the Canyons Lib., Santa Clarita, CA

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