bout de papier, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1987) — Spring 1987 // Printemps 1987, p. 47
The Wine Lover’s Guide to France, by
Michael Busselles, Pavillon Books Ltd.,
distributed by Penguin, 1986, $29.95.
Michael Busselle’s The Wine Lover’s Guide to France is an apt title because it puts the accent as much on France, the wine growing country, as on wine itself. The five principal wine growing areas that make up roughly half the country — Champagne, Burgundy, the Midi, Bordeaux and the Loire — are singled out to the exclusion of the parts of the country not renowned for their wine. Appropriately then, the text comprises twenty-six “wine tours”. As the author observers in his introduction: “You do not need to be a wine lover to enjoy the countryside which produces it, but it is a simple fact that the wine-growing regions of France are among the most beautiful and the Routes des Vins are often the most scenic roads”.
This is a decorative honk variety and technology of wine and winemaking: introductory pages “About Wine” a few paragraphs on the wines to be encountered on each route, a glossary of wine terms and a “Wine Buying Guide” at the end of each of the six regional sections. These guides and other references to wine provide some examples and an overall impression rather than a comprehensive and detailed examination of the wines produced. In particular the serious wine enthusiast might object to the fact that the “Wine Buying Guide” section for Southern France covers six full pages, i.e. exactly the same as for the incomparably superior (many would say supreme) Bordelais. However for this category of reader other more informative works such as Alexis Lichine’s constantly up-dated book or Hachette’s encyclopaedic “Guide to French Wines” are available on the shelves.
The qualities of the Wine Lover’s Guide to France are evident. The text is concise, unpretentious, and shimmers with the author’s enthusiasm for his subject, which is, pre-eminently, the countryside where the grapes are grown and wine is made. This is not to say that any reader would be likely to doubt Busselle’s affinity for wine. The book is greatly enhanced by a large number of the author’s own glorious colour photographs and maps; these in uplifting contrast to the drab black and white offerings that betray the budget-conscious approach of many wine-book writers and publishers. In short this is a decorative book, but one with a purpose: to entice the reader to trace the author’s steps along some of the country’s wine routes — sightseeing, tasting, drinking and perhaps doing some judicious buying.
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1987) — Spring 1987 // Printemps 1987, p. 47. Read the rest of this issue →
