Great Britain is a premium wine-producing region, with around 650 vineyards in England and Wales covering some 2,750 hectares and producing sparkling and still wines. English and Welsh wines have won many prestigious awards recently and Stephen Skelton is the leading authority on the wines of the UK. The wines of Great Britain is a comprehensive survey of the history of UK wines, as well as of the current state of the wine industry and its future prospects. After a short introduction showing where UK wine is in 2019 and where it might go in the future Skelton considers the history of winemaking in the UK from King Alfred in the fifth century, through the medieval period to recent developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The wines of Great Britain then takes us on a tour of contemporary viticulture and winemaking, examining trends in plantings and vineyard layout, varieties, rootstocks and clones, vineyard sizes, modern wineries and styles of wine. Skelton considers regional identities as well as the branding of UK sparkling wines and their market position. A substantial part of this important book is the 21 detailed biographies of the most important, exciting and innovative producers and the wines they create. Wine businesses profiled in detail include Breaky Bottom, Chapel Down, Nyetimber, Oxney Organic Estate, Sixteen Ridges Vineyard and Yorkshire Heart Vineyard. Shorter entries on other significant or up-and-coming producers also feature.

The wines of Great Britain

Stephen Skelton MW

Infinite Ideas Ltd.

Haier purpose: The real story of China's first global super company

In September 2015 Haier and Zhang Ruimin won the prestigious Thinkers50 Ideas into Practice award for their mixture of relentless change, teamworking and destruction of middle management layers, combined with long-term dynamic leadership. Established in 1984, Haier is the world's #1 major appliance brand. It has transformed itself from an enterprise that manufactures household appliances to a platform that incubates entrepreneurs. In June 2016 it confirmed its purchase of General Electric’s appliance division for $5.4 billion, putting one of America’s best-known brands in the hands of one of China’s largest companies. Haier began as an importer in Qingdao in the 1930s. In 1984, the charismatic Zhang Ruimin took over the then-state-owned enterprise, turning the money-losing company into one of China’s best-known and most profitable businesses. In a story that’s been retold in countless promotional materials and business school case studies, Ruimin impressed the need for quality control on his employees by smashing sub-par refrigerators with a hammer as soon as they’d rolled off the assembly line. (That hammer is now enshrined in Haier’s Qingdao headquarters.) Now for the first time the story is told from the inside. Haier purpose is a comprehensive guide to the strategies and innovation that made Haier the global phenomenon that it is today.

Business & Money

Yong, Hu

Yazhou, Hao

Biography & History

Once brewed throughout Asia, sake has come to be inextricably linked with Japanese culture, tradition and society. In Sake and the wines of Japan, Anthony Rose argues that, after decades in the doldrums, sake is well on its way to becoming the next big thing. Neither a wine nor a spirit, sake's purity, centuries-old brewing methods and umami taste have gained it fans among the sort of younger drinkers who sparked the revolution in craft beers and artisan spirits. Along with huge strides in quality and stylistic diversity, the modern outlook of today's generation of sake makers is opening up sake, particularly premium sake, to the world. Exports have increased and sake breweries, some artisan, some offshoots of big Japanese names, have sprung up in destinations as far flung as Oregon and Australia, not forgetting England. To demonstrate how deeply woven into Japanese society this drink is, Rose first takes us through the history of sake production, from offerings to the gods made from rice chewed by priestesses, to the heyday of sake, when master craftsmen -tōjis - were instrumental in a brewery's success or failure, to sake's new wave, epitomized by Berlin techno DJ Richie Hawtin, founder of ENTER.Sake. Rose then details sake types, demystifies polishing ratios, explores the issues around ageing sake and discusses how best to enjoy sake. The four basic ingredients - rice, kōji (rice mould), yeast and water - are introduced ahead of a thorough explanation of the brewing process. Rose profiles a personal selection of sake producers and ends the sake section with a chapter on sake producers outside Japan. Japan's wine industry is small and young but improving rapidly; here some of the best exponents are profiled alongside a history of wine production in Japan, details of grape varieties used and a tour d'horizon of Japan's wine regions. Sake and the wines of Japan ends with a guide to Japan, including a host of recommended Tokyo restaurants, bars and hotels, making it an essential tool for all those seeking a way into this enigmatic and enticing culture.

Sake and the wines of Japan

Rose, Anthony

Industries

New Zealand's wine industry has grown rapidly over the last thirty years, with the world's wine drinkers falling particularly hard for the Marlborough region's distinctive Sauvignon Blancs. But New Zealand wine goes far beyond the exuberant whites grown in the north of its South Island.
In The Wines of New Zealand Master of Wine Rebecca Gibb takes us on a vinous journey through Aotearoa ('land of the long white cloud') and opens our eyes to the huge variety of wines created throughout the two islands of one of the world's most southerly wine-producing lands. She begins by covering the history of winemaking in New Zealand - the first grapes were planted 200 years ago, but it has only recently realized its potential. There is then an introduction to the New Zealand climate and the leading grapes - including 10 'must-try' wines for each variety.
The major wine producing regions are detailed in turn, from Northland, the most northerly and warmest region, offering ripe Chardonnays and rich reds, to the cooler South Island, where bright whites and nuanced Pinot Noirs abound. Profiles, including recommended wines, are given for a selection of the country's nearly 700 producers, providing an overview of the most exciting wineries and their differing approaches to viticulture and winemaking. For those readers seeking to complete their exploration of this breathtaking country in person, there is a useful chapter giving details on wine-related activities in New Zealand.
This expert and accessible guide to New Zealand wines is a refreshing addition to the library of any wine enthusiast.

The wines of New Zealand

Gibb, Rebecca

This historic wine nation at the heart of Europe produces a diverse range of wines – Riesling above all, but also compelling Spätburgunder, aka Pinot Noir, and Silvaner, amongst others. Yet in the minds of many it is still associated with mass-produced sweetish plonk. But following a bruising twentieth century, German wine over the past thirty years has experienced a renaissance. In The wines of Germany, master of wine Anne Krebiehl takes us with her on a journey through vineyards clustered along the country’s many winding rivers to uncover this new world of German wine.
She begins with a thorough explanation of German wine law – a subject so complicated that it can alienate all but the most dedicated wine enthusiast – taking a historical perspective and showing how current moves to review the law could considerably simplify it. It is only right that Riesling, the light and aromatic grape synonymous with this country, gets a chapter all to itself, as does Spätburgunder. Plantings of this grape doubled between 1990 and 2010 to make Germany the third-largest grower worldwide. As an enthusiast for Sekt, Krebiehl is keen to explain how far from the tank-produced wines of past decades this sparkling wine has come, with artisan winemakers across the regions returning to the old methods to create bottle-fermented Sekts of quality.
Taking the thirteen regions in turn, Krebiehl explains the unique history, geography and climate of each, presenting a selection of some of her favourite producers. From the famed steep slopes of the Mosel, where Riesling reaches its pinnacle of expression, through the largest region, Rheinhessen, home of the infamous Liebfraumilch, to less well-known regions such as Saale-Unstrut and Sachsen, Krebiehl paints a vivid picture of each region’s unique offering, inspiring readers to begin their own explorations.

The wines of Germany

Krebiehl, Anne

Eastern Europe is the last undiscovered gem of the wine world. Over the last thirty years three countries, Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova have been working hard to escape the legacy of communism. For all three the regimes that took hold after the Second World War affected their wine industries profoundly, with state farms favouring mechanization and mass production over care and quality. Recent decades have seen a huge switch in attitudes following privatization, with more focus on quality and reconnecting people with the land to rebuild these historic wine industries for today's wine drinkers.
Bulgarian wine's fall in sales in the West due to the rising popularity of New World wines, Moldova's economic crisis at the hands of a Russian ban on Moldovan wine and Romania's need to counter imports from foreign producers as tastes in wine change have forced wineries to rethink their approaches to viticulture and winemaking. Instead of production lines of anonymous wines, makers now focus on creating authentic regional wines using local and international varieties and modern techniques.
In The wines of Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova, Eastern European wine expert Caroline Gilby MW presents the wine stories of these three connected but distinct countries as one who has witnessed the vast changes as they happened. The cultures of the three countries, their complex and troubled histories and their roads to recovery are profiled here along with details of the geography, climate, grapes grown and, most importantly, the producers working to revive and reinvent their respective wine industries.
For those who seek something new beyond the traditional wines of Western Europe or who find New World wines losing their thrill The wines of Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova is an inspirational introduction to a wine world waiting to be explored.

The wines of Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova

Gilby, Caroline

Rose has seen a huge boom in sales over the last twenty-five years. Popular particularly with younger drinkers, its move into the spotlight seems to be part of a fashion for all things pink. The wines are often thought of as fresh and undemanding but while for many that is part of their appeal, here Master of Wine Elizabeth Gabay reveals the other side of rose, discovering wines (some unavailable beyond the winery steps) that are every bit as complex and intriguing as their red and white cellarmates. After taking us through the history of rose and discussing varieties and winemaking methods, Gabay turns her attention to the regions where rose is made, first introducing us to historic wines such as Tavel, Cigales and Rose d’Anjou. She next journeys to the heart of the revolution, Provence. The region’s pale-hued wines have become the height of fashion, with wineries owned by Hollywood stars and wines such as Garrus commanding premium prices. Unsurprisingly this has led to much emulation, but as Gabay continues her global rose investigations she discovers that pale is not the only interesting form of rose. Indeed, one challenge for rose producers is persuading drinkers to look beyond the colour, for as Rose demonstrates these wines come in a huge variety of styles. From traditional clairet roses made using the saignee method to vins gris, natural wines and experimental styles, produced as far afield as British Columbia and Marlborough, California and Crimea, Gabay has tried (nearly) all of them. The result is a detailed yet conversational book that will provoke discussion among those in the industry, wine aficionados and students.

Rosé: Understanding the pink wine revolution

Gabay, Elizabeth

Chablis has a distinct identity amongst the wines of Burgundy. The gently sloping vineyards of this small, scenic region produce a remarkably diverse range of wines, even though all are made from just one variety – Chardonnay.
As in other parts of France, it was the Romans who introduced vines and the medieval Church which expanded the vineyard. By the twelfth century the wines of Chablis were already being celebrated in poetry. However, over the centuries a considerable amount of everyday wine also found its way via the river Yonne to the cafés of Paris. In its heyday of production towards the end of the nineteenth century the region encompassed 40,000 hectares of vines. But that was before phylloxera and oidium ravaged the vineyards and the railways brought competition from further south to the capital’s wine drinkers.
From a low point of 500 hectares just after the Second World War, the vineyard has now expanded more than tenfold, and quality has increased too. Wines in the appellation’s four categories – grand cru, premier cru, Chablis and Petit Chablis – are created by vignerons keen to work with the terroir to produce the elegant, mineral, long-lived wines for which the region earned its reputation. To this end, ever greater care is being taken in the vineyards and the routine use of chemicals is becoming increasingly uncommon.
The region’s history, unique soil, geography and climate are all covered in detail, but it is Rosemary George’s lively and insightful profiles of those who make the region’s wines that form the body of The wines of Chablis and the Grand Auxerrois. Through the lives of these vignerons – from the lows of disastrous weather to their love of the land – she paints a unique picture of a much-admired region.

The wines of Chablis and the Grand Auxerrois

George, Rosemary

The history of wine production in Greece dates back more than four millennia, yet for many consumers and aficionados Greek wine is still synonymous with the retsina they drank in tavernas as tourists. Here, Master of Wine Konstantinos Lazarakis argues that to dismiss Greek wine in this way today is to miss out on an array of varied and vibrant wines – even retsina, in the hands of boutique producers, has become a drink worthy of a second chance.
From the foothills of Mount Olympus to the plain of Thessaly in Central Greece and scattered across the vast number of islands, each of Greece’s vineyards has its own challenges, history and varieties. Yet terroir, in Greece, goes far beyond soil-types and weather conditions – it emanates from the culture of the country and the spirit of a people whose ancestors even had a god for wine.
The wines of Greece begins with a summary of Greece’s wine history, geography and grape varieties. The many responses of vine growers and winemakers to the land have created a host of different wines – sweet wines from Samos, the famed Malvasia from the Peloponnese and new, surprising wines from oenological innovators throughout the country. It is to the work of these winemakers that the bulk of the book is dedicated; Lazarakis has tirelessly explored Greece’s 700 wineries and here focuses on some of the most inventive producers and interesting wines available.
Greek wine is on the brink of a new era; anybody curious to rediscover a lost gem of winemaking will have their enthusiasm charged by this lovingly written book.

The wines of Greece

Lazarakis, Konstantinos

Authoritative and entertaining, the completely updated third edition of Richard Mayson’s Port and the Douro offers unparalleled insight into the world of port and Douro wines. From the history of the wine trade in Portugal to the present day, this book is rich in information, offering readers the inside story of these magnificent wines, including a great deal of new material on the cultivation of the Douro’s vineyards. An entire chapter is dedicated to vintage port, covering harvests as recent as 2015 and providing information on vintages going back to 1844. All the producers and shippers are included in a comprehensive directory which reflects the structural changes the trade has undergone in recent years, with withdrawal of the multinationals and the sale and amalgamation of a number of famous port firms. Mayson closes by addressing some of the challenges and changes that might affect port and Douro wines in future. A comprehensive study of port and its production, this is an indispensable reference guide to the world’s greatest fortified wine.

Port and the Douro (The Classic Wine Library)

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Mayson, Richard

Beverages & Wine

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