A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours

Wine Grapes

An indispensable book for every wine lover, from some of the world's greatest experts. 
 
Where do wine grapes come from and how are they related to each other? What is the historical background of each grape variety? Where are they grown? What sort of wines do they make and, most importantly, what do they taste like? 
 
Using the most cutting-edge DNA analysis and detailing almost 1,400 distinct grape varieties, as well as myriad correct (and highlighting almost as many incorrect) synonyms, this particularly beautiful book includes revelatory grape family trees, and a rich variety of illustrations from Viala and Vermorel's seminal ampelography with century-old illustrations. Combining Jancis Robinson's world view, nose for good writing and good wines with Julia Harding's expertise and attention to detail plus Dr Vouillamoz's unique level of scholarship, Wine Grapes offers essential and original information in greater depth and breadth than has ever been available before. A book for wine students, wine experts and wine lovers everywhere. 
 
AWARDS 
 
Best Wine, Beer and Spirits Book and winner of the Jane Grigson award, IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Awards 2014 
A wine book of the year, 2013, The Times, London 
Faiveley International Wine Book of the Year 2013, Roederer Awards 
Best Viticulture Book 2013, OIV Awards 
Best Drink Book 2012, Fortnum &amp; Mason Food and Drink Awards 
Best Beverage Book 2012, James Beard Awards 
Best Drink Book 2012, André Simon Awards 
Hall of Fame for Best Wine Book 2012, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 
Best Drinks Book 2012, Wine &amp; Spirits magazine 
One of the V&amp;A's '100 books essential for preserving humanity'

This thousand-plus-page monument combines 21st-century science with the ambition, scale and authority of 19th-century scholarship. It may be the nerdiest wine book ever published (and, trust me, that's a competitive title) but it's also a work of astounding scholarship, and as a piece of book-making, is an outright masterpiece

Features extraordinarily detailed profiles of close to 1,400 vine varieties employed in the production of wine around the world ... I learned a huge amount ... What struck me most, though, was how engaging and passionate it was. This wasn't a dry cataloguing of grapes, a microscopic look at their DNA; this was a heartfelt exploration of wine history.

Max Allen [Australia’s best-known wine writer]

This book is a thing of beauty - classic, well written and splendidly illustrated - and will be a point of reference for decades to come. With Christmas coming it may well be worth considering as a present for those wine enthusiasts amongst your friends and family. I am going to put it on my list when I write to Santa that's for sure!

A fantastic Christmas present for any wine geek, and one that will provide an endless source of fiendish questions for quiz-setters

A magnificent achievement: colossally informative, illuminating and intriguing

A phenomenal book in its detail and research ... the definitive guide to grape varieties ... an incredible piece of work, detailing 1,368 varieties (out of a possible 10,000 worldwide) with 80 beautiful colour plates - essential for all wine students, wine lovers, wine growers keen to experiment with new grapes - and anyone with a passing interest in grapes

This has got to be the wine reference book to top all such guides

Definitely the WINE BOOK of the decade, if not the century!

Even for the already knowledgeable and deeply well versed, the book offers countless new discoveries, surprises about grapes' true origins and kinships, and a plethora of varieties you've never even heard of

It is almost bible-like, which is perhaps quite fitting. I found the overall appearance quite beautiful. I was especially pleased to see many varieties have a description of the taste of their wines. From a drinker's perspective this must be the most important information

Wine Grapes sets a new standard; it is a seminal new work

Oenophiles, you have here the ideal book to give others (and yourself!) this Christmas

Every wine lover MUST have this on their shelves

Amazingly informative and insightful ... Wine Grapes is an essential reference that belongs on every wine lover's bookshelf, right up there next to The World Atlas of Wine. One of the biggest pleasures of wine is its diversity. Wine Grapes will inspire you to stick your nose and tongue into new aromas and flavors

There have been books on grapes before, but we were badly in need of a bang up-to-date properly researched book, and we indeed have it in the new Wine Grapes. To me it is already indispensable ... I can already see that this big fat book is a fabulous resource and essential for all serious wine lovers to own

Wine Grapes is an invaluable resource destined to find a fascinated, albeit niche, audience

What seemed at first like a prim reference tome to crack when I needed to sort out the 13 different varieties of Lambrusco has a more compelling mystery underneath ... The thoroughness (Listán Negro and Listán Prieto? Not the same thing, Canary Island fans) is matched by a sense of purpose, mostly because equal space is devoted to the esoteric (Grillo, Menu Pineau, Parellada) as to the obvious ... Along the way, it nullifies most simple homilies that litter the world of wine, instead offering a more complicated and interesting tale, one that reinforces wine as one of history's great culturing forces

It is very rare for me to buy a wine book but I had no hesitation in buying it from Amazon for £78, and cheap for this amount of scholarship and research

The ultimate reference work on wine grapes

I am impressed by the depth of scientifically justified and clearly formulated answers to a wide range of origin-related questions ... Wine Grapes gains an extra dimension for its attention to the diversity of grape-names ... With this book Jancis Robinson and her team have not only enriched our genetic knowledge of grape varieties, but also made it accessible to all wine enthusiasts who would like to know more about their names, ancestors and characteristics ... The most important wine book since The Oxford Companion to Wine has arrived, and with it Jancis Robinson has universally established her name as wine educator

It will undoubtedly race to its place ahead of the few other 'must stock' books in any serious winey-person's library ... the book genuinely breaks new ground, which is (a) quite rare for wine books, and (b) always a joy to fact-nerds like myself. Its main premise is to genetically trace the origins and ancestors of these grape varieties, and there are some surprises here

The most important wine book in years ... I am presented with a tome that will garner my attention for the rest of my life, make me smarter and give me pause to reconsider every time I imagine I might have done something of significance ... this book could easily pass for any writer's proudest moment, the culmination of a life's work

Wine Grapes - the new book from the @JancisRobinson team - incredible! Staggered by the detail. Seminal work, am speechless, thank you

In 'Abbuoto to Zweigelt' describes the book as one 'that I think any wine-lover would want to own'

An extraordinary new book ... an impressive new encyclopedic doorstop

Some things you know you just have to have ... What a book!

The most important event of the century so far... In its way this book is the equivalent to Diderot's Encyclopedie, Johnson's Dictionary or Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

...a beautiful object and a work of scholarship... an essential Christmas present for wine lovers

The only important new standard work of recent times; revolutionary!

Despite its density, a page-turner... An epic book

In short, if  you are only going to have one wine grape book, then this is it

Setting aside the book's beauty and reference value, there's a lot of good reading here... Wine Grapes is awesome, a reference that anyone interested in wine, botany, culture and history should have on hand

According to Wine Grapes, the Pinot family, Noir, Meunier, Gris and Blanc, are genetically identical. In fact more than one type of Pinot has been found in the same vine. It's one of the things I love most about wine is that just when you think you've grasped something, it slips out of your grasp. Buy this amazing work of scholarship and you'll realise quite how little you know.

The most complete guide ever to grapes, vines and the bottles they produce. A wine buff's bible

A masterly work ... not only timely, but overdue ... a must-have

Graced with lavish color plates depicting dozens of important grape varieties, this trusty encyclopedia will inspire novel wine match-ups for favorite recipes and settle wine trivia debates around the dinner table. History buffs, like your reviewer, will absolutely love how the book examines the earliest written references to their favorite grapes; for example we learn that Cabernet grapes trace back to ancient Basque varieties in northeast Spain; who knew!

For anyone serious about wine, this is an endlessly fascinating volume - and a beautifully designed one too

The most magnum of magna opera ... with the authoritative text and lovely illustrations reminiscent of a great, scholarly botanical book of the 19th century with its full colour plates ... a timeless classic

Best Wine, Beer and Spirits Book and winner of the Jane Grigson award

IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Awards 2014

Faiveley International Wine Book of the Year 2013

JANCIS ROBINSON is one of the world's best-known wine writers. In 1984 she was the first person outside the wine trade to qualify as a Master of Wine. The Financial Times wine writer, she is the author/editor of dozens of wine books, including two of the most respected and garlanded, The Oxford Companion to Wine (OUP) and The World Atlas of Wine (Mitchell Beazley). She is widely regarded by the wine-drinking public as an authority on vine varieties. Her award-winning website, www.JancisRobinson.com, has subscribers in 100 countries. 
 
JULIA HARDING passed the notoriously stiff Master of Wine exams at the first attempt, the top student of her year. She is Jancis Robinson's full-time researcher, co-ordinator and associate palate. In this book she has gathered the most up-to-date statistics about wine-grape plantings in every corner of the planet as well as unearthing recommended wine producers for almost every variety. 
 
JOSÉ VOUILLAMOZ, who worked with Professor Carole Meredith and the ground-breaking team of grape geneticists at the University of California at Davis, is a botanist and grape geneticist with an international reputation and is currently based in his native Switzerland. He has discovered numerous unexpected relationships between grape varieties, many of which are exclusive to this book.

An indispensable book for every wine lover, from some of the world's greatest experts. 
 
Where do wine grapes come from and how are they related to each other? What is the historical background of each grape variety? Where are they grown? What sort of wines do they make and, most importantly, what do they taste like? 
 
Using the most cutting-edge DNA analysis and detailing almost 1,400 distinct grape varieties, as well as myriad correct (and highlighting almost as many incorrect) synonyms, this particularly beautiful book includes revelatory grape family trees, and a rich variety of illustrations from Viala and Vermorel's seminal ampelography with century-old illustrations. Combining Jancis Robinson's world view, nose for good writing and good wines with Julia Harding's expertise and attention to detail plus Dr Vouillamoz's unique level of scholarship, Wine Grapes offers essential and original information in greater depth and breadth than has ever been available before. A book for wine students, wine experts and wine lovers everywhere.

Jancis Robinson

For those who have an appetite to learn, but don't quite know where to start, The 24-Hour Wine Expert offers a perfectly compact solution

What makes it special is Robinson's well-honed sense for delivering the goods along with a wry sense of critical insight

This thin volume manages to cover the major aspects of wine appreciation at a very high level

It's easy to read, good content, up-to-date, in plain language, giving the bare bones of learning about wine quickly

[Praise for WINE GRAPES] a work of astounding scholarship

[Praise for WINE GRAPES] A magnificent achievement: colossally informative, illuminating and intriguing

Wine is now one of the most popular drinks in the world. Many wine drinkers wish they knew more about it without having to understand every detail or go on a wine course. 
 
In The 24-Hour Wine Expert, Jancis Robinson shares her expertise with authority, wit and approachability. From the difference between red and white, to the shape of bottles and their labels, descriptions of taste, colour and smell, to pairing wine with food and the price-quality correlation, Robinson helps us make the most of this mysteriously delicious drink.

Jancis Robinson

Praise for The 24-Hour Wine Expert

For those who have an appetite to learn, but don't quite know where to start, The 24-Hour Wine Expert offers a perfectly compact solution

What makes it special is Robinson's well-honed sense for delivering the goods along with a wry sense of critical insight

This thin volume manages to cover the major aspects of wine appreciation at a very high level

For those who have an appetite to learn, but don't quite know where to start, The 24-Hour Wine Expert offers a perfectly compact solution

What makes it special is Robinson's well-honed sense for delivering the goods along with a wry sense of critical insight

This thin volume manages to cover the major aspects of wine appreciation at a very high level

For those who have an appetite to learn, but don't quite know where to start, The 24-Hour Wine Expert offers a perfectly compact solution

What makes it special is Robinson's well-honed sense for delivering the goods along with a wry sense of critical insight

This thin volume manages to cover the major aspects of wine appreciation at a very high level

Books by Jancis Robinson

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter