New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine

by Andrew Jefford, Jason Lowe (Photographer)

This comprehensive wine atlas leaves no centimeter of terroir unexplored. After a thorough introduction to France, French winemaking and the concept of terroir, Jefford (Wine Tastes Wine Styles) gets to the heart of the matter with lengthy chapters on each of France's 14 regions. Each of these consists of an overview of the region and its history, profiles of the area's major winemakers, a description of the land and listings and descriptions of the local wineries. Some of the latter are lengthy, while others are brief, but all include an address and phone number, making this book useful as a guidebook as well. Jefford is refreshingly the Loire Valley is in the throes of a "long and refined stone age," while Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace is the domain "most emblematic of the New France as a whole." The effort here is encyclopedic, but the writing rises above the usual dry discussion, comparing the quest to understand Burgundy to doing crossword puzzles. Even the most matter-of-fact information is presented with a certain in a description of the Rhone Valley, Jefford explains that the area's mistral wind is both destructive and useful, in that it blows away "fugs and fungal diseases." Numerous maps and photographs-including portraits of the winemakers profiled-and a full list of vintages round out this entertaining addition to its field.

Genres: Wine, France, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2002

Reviews

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, varied, and extremely in-depth coverage of the current (or 4 years-ago) state of French wine. Jefford writes well, if not a touch too lofty for my taste. The winemaker profiles provide the most insight in this book, you learn what drives some of the country's leading vignerons. Good producer profiles, although Jefford tends to stick with the most "known" producers and their tete de cuvees, forgetting that the lowly reader of this book may never be able to afford those. That being said, this is a must-read for any wine enthusiast who wants some depth in understanding, but who already has a fairly expansive knowledge of the wine world. I'd place this book a somewhat distant second to my favorite book on French wine, "The Wines of France" by Jacqueline Friedrich.

[Justin Cormack · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best wine books. Jefford writes lucidly and persuasively.