Vincent Gasnier
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Good Overview of the Top French Wines from France's Appelations 5 out of 5 stars.
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Want a good, fast easy read to learn about the top wineries and wines from each appellation in France in 140 pages or so? This is the book for you.
Vincent Gasnier is a talented sommelier with a knack for writing about wines in a very interesting and compelling manner, making for great reading. He's written a series of 4 brief, but informative overview books, covering the top wines from France, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, and the United States. All are easy reading, ideal for reading in short bursts of time as well as informative and enjoyable.
This book on French wines offers a brief historical overview of wines in France as well as how French wine law and the Appellation Controllee (AOC) systems works. Then, it presents a brief section on each appellation. Each section offers a brief overview of a French wine region, including a general description of the region, the winemakers, wineries and top wines.
While the chapter on Bordeaux will be a bit less insightful as even many neophytes might recognize Latour, Mouton-Rothschild and Margaux as among the most expensive and well-known wines in the world, it does a very good job of highlighting the top wines from all of France's regions. The top 10 for a region can take the form of multiple top 10 lists such as Top 10 Wines for Storing, Top 10 Fabulous Desert Wines, Top 10 Magnificent Red Bordeaux, Top 10 Superb Celebration Wines, Top 10 Refreshing Rose Wines, Top 10 Best Kept Secrets in French Wines, in addition to the Top 10 wines in each appellation.
It also features brief (2 to 4 page) sections on Wine and Food Matching, Buying and Storing Wine, Wine Tasting, and one on Wines Styles, a popular approach gaining in usage that breaks wines into category profiles. For example, white wines are classified into the following categories: 1). crisp dry light bodied; aromatic to flowery, dry to medium-sweet; tangy or steely medium bodied; and full bodied, rich flavored. Grapes typically make wines in one of these categories (although chardonnay grapes, for example, may overlap two categories depending on the winemaking style employed). Generally someone who likes a certain style of wine, might appreciate the appeal of other grapes making wines in this same style or category. This section also lists the French wines that would fall into each of these categories.
I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking a basic overview of French wines. The author has a nice ability to explore a topic briefly, yet still provide valuable information. Gasnier is one of my favorite wine authors. If there were an award for adequately conveying a useful overview of French Wines - along with wine information in general - in the least number of pages, Gasnier would surely win it. I am pretty knowledgeable about wine and still found this book very well done and interesting. Highly recommended, as is the entire 4 book series.
Mark Vincent
