The Future of Wine Books

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I love Amazon.com. In addition to finding just about anything I want there, it also allows me to look into the future….of publishing.

On a quarterly basis or so I checking with Amazon by doing a search on "Wine" in the "Books" section of the site and sort my findings by publishing date. What results is a list of books not yet published but set to be released over the next the next few months…or years. What I’m looking for are trends; ideas of what the wine lovers and wine drinkers of the world will be presented with.

Below is a selection of the soon to be published wine books…and some thoughts on each.


The Wine Lover’s Guide to Auctions: The Art & Science of Buying And Selling Wines

by Ursula Hermacinski (Paperback – August 30, 2006)
I used to work with Ursula, a wonderful lady who made a career out of understanding not just the wine auction market but what gets people buying at an auction. She became famed for her great performances with the gavel at the Napa Valley wine auctions.

Alpana Pours: About Being a Woman, Loving Wine & Having Great Relationships 
by Alpana Singh (Paperback – September 2006)
More and more the wine market is being broken down into smaller demographic slices. Publishing if famous for its targeted approach to any subject. But this trend has only recently come to wine. This is not the only book to be aimed at women that will be released over the next 12 months.


The Wine Wars : The Mondavi Affair, Globalization and Terror

by Olivier Torres (Hardcover – September 5, 2006)
Yes, I’m most certainly going to be reading this. And so will a lot of people in the wine industry. Something very interesting happened in the south of France that did touch on a global trend.


Red, White, and Drunk All Over : A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass
 
 
by Natalie Maclean (Hardcover – September 19, 2006)
Maclean, a Canada-based wine writer has gained a significant following. This book looks to be in the tradition of Gerald Asher’s great episodic books on wine in which various topics are covered in familiar voice.


The Best Wines in the Supermarkets

by Ned Halley (Paperback – September 25, 2006)
This might be a new edition of an older book. Either way…is it necessary?

Secrets from the Wine Diva : Tips on Buying, Ordering & Enjoying Wine  
by Christine Ansbacher (Paperback – September 28, 2006)
Another book in the tradition of marketing wine books for the genders.


Wine: A Practical Guide to Enjoying Your Selection
 
by Jens Priewe (Hardcover – October 2006)
The "How To" wine book is the most common, driving home the point that wine is complicated and that publishers like it that way. I’m not convinced we need more books like this. But you can count on at least 10 or 20 of them published each year.


The Art and Science of Wine
 
by James Halliday, Hugh Johnson (Hardcover – October 19, 2006)
Quite likely this will be the most informative, authoritative, and perhaps controversial wine book published this year. Halliday and Johnson are giants of wine writing and among the most engaging and knowledgeable writers to ever aim a pen at wine.


A Hedonist in the Cellar : Adventures in Wine

by Jay Mcinerney (Hardcover – October 24, 2006)
Yes…THAT Jay Mcinerney. Likely to be well written and another in the tradition of Gerald Asher.


The Oxford Companion to Wine

by Jancis Robinson (Editor) (Hardcover – October 31, 2006)
The 3rd edition of "The Bible" is set to be released.


Excellent Yet Unkown: Wines from 125 Boutique Wineries You Can Buy on the Web
   

(Paperback – November 2006)
No author is associated with this book. Though certainly "of the times" perhaps it was written by a GoogleBot.


Wine Marketing : A Practical Guide

by C Michael Hall, Richard Mitchell (Paperback – January 15, 2007)
It’s a limited market for this kind of book, but indicative of the heightened interest in wine. This is not the only wine marketing book to be released in the coming months, either.


The Jewish Wine Trade And The Origin Of Jewish Moneylending: Principles And Pressures
 

by Haym Soloveitchik (Editor) (Hardcover – June 2008)
What would a list of upcoming wine books be without something truly esoteric? Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait two years for this gem to emerge onto the shelves.

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3 Responses

  1. dfredman - July 6, 2006

    I’m not sure that Halliday & Johnson’s book will be as controversial as it is thorough. I believe that it’s simply a new edition of their previous “Art & Science of Wine” and that was a revision of “The Vintner’s Art”.
    I’m expecting more updated material in Volume 3 of “The Oxford Companion to Wine”. The second edition was a huge leap beyond the first version and I expect that the upcoming edition will be equally as monumental, given the changes in the wine world since the last one.
    Ursula’s book looks interesting too, but I’ll probably pass on those by Alpana and Christine- I’m not exactly within the target demographic for either of them.
    DF

  2. Matt - July 6, 2006

    If/when you read some of these, please post a write-up/review…

  3. Denise - July 7, 2006

    Actually, the Torres book is called “The Wine Wars : The Mondavi Affair, Globalization and TERROIR”. Makes sense. And does look like a good read.


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