The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine

For the people like me who doesn't have any knowledge about France wines, it is the best book to start with.

You might buy this book because it's a beautiful coffee table book - the beautiful pictures and the layout...Or you might buy it because it's great for reference material. If you love wine, simply buy it for that reason alone. It is very up-to-date, the author, no stranger to French wine, a true professional, uncovers the latest trends and troubles in the various wine regions of France. He talks with growers and vintners, producers and negociants - providing perspective from all angles. Beyond reading the latest issue of Decanter or Wine Spectator, this is perhaps the most informative and concise manner of learning about the "now" of French wine. Like other Mitchell Beazley publications, the focus here is on the great presentation and the high level of scholarship/research/journalism. This book will nourish your curiosity.

A great read and reference as to what is going on in French Wine today. Covers all the regions and introduces the reader to the regional personalities and the best producers. You gotta add this one to your wine library.

This is a fine book, an excellent introduction to contemporary French wine. Jefford's initial discussions of "appelation" and "terroir" are profound while at the same time approachable for beginners. His use of commentary by experienced vintners helps round out the presentation. And the inclusion of "flak" sections for the major appelations gives a balance to the book's account. These sections deal with some of the various misgivings and criticisms that vintners, growers and consumers have with the regulations and the general wine-making practice. So despite the privilege Jefford accords "terroir," he presents (and sometimes even supports) arguments against its hegemony.

What's the best way to read a book about wines, producers, regions, styles, etc? Cover-to-cover? Episodically? Grab it when you want to do some research on a specific topic? In my own case, it's typically when I crawl into bed because that's about the only time I have to read about my favorite subject. Whatever your preference, you'll want to read this book when you're in a position to pay attention because it's one of the most entertaining and instructive wine books I've seen in a long time. Jefford is a passionate advocate for non-interventionist winemaking. If anyone else has already invented this term I apologize in advance for the unwitting plagiarism, but he's also a "terroir-ist". God help the hapless winery that allows anything to interfere with the expression of the land in the wine, or commits the cardinal sin of branding. To Jefford, quoting Randall Graham of Bonny Doon, drinking a great wine should be like "shaking hands with a mountain," because you're drinking the very land where the vines grow, not the attenuated expression of a winemaker's ego. The New France is Jeffford's paean to French winemakers who share his perspective on quality. While I don't really regard it as a book for beginners, its greatest utility comes from snapshot reviews of hundreds of producers across the major wine growing regions of France. Jefford gives them anywhere from zero to three stars to indicate their merit based on his terroir-at-all-costs preferences. So if your tastes agree with his, you'll find his capsule summaries of tremendous value. A quick example might help make this a little clearer. Recently, one of my favorite stores, the Wine Library in Springfield, NJ, ran an ad for William Fevrre Chablis Fourcharme 1er Cru 1999 for what seemed like a very low price. I love white Burgundy, but I don't often buy it because the good stuff is so expensive. Thinking this sounded like a great deal, but wary of getting bushwhacked as can often happen in Burgundy, I grabbed my edition of The New France and turned to the section on Chablis (treated here like a separate and equal wine growing region, which I heartily applaud). I was gratified to learn that this producer earned Jefford's highest 3 star designation, particularly since 1998 when it changed ownership. Even more impressive, he cited this specific premier cru vineyard because it abuts the grand cru Preuses and is particularly rich as a result. Well, folks, all I can tell you is he nailed this sonufagun. I bought two cases.What qualifies Fevre as the best domaine in Chablis according to Jefford? Meticulous attention to the picking and sorting of the fruit, low yields, minimal manipulation and very little new oak all allow the wines to speak for themselves.The book is organized around each of the major French winegrowing regions. Each chapter features: an introduction to the terroir of each region and the impact it has on the wines; brief profiles of Jefford's favorite winemakers; a section cal