The Catastrophe

Most of our posts are quite accesable to every hobby drinker, but we can understand how some of you want to take your drinking to a whole new level. To become a real pro in the drinks industry isn’t easy, as a certain level of knowledge is required. Much of that can be picked up by reading specialized literature. In this guest post Erica Flemming, who made a career summarizing all kinds of books, gives us 9 books that are absolute must-reads for those who want to get into the booze industry. Even though most books in the list will educate you about wine, there is a little something for the cocktail, whisky and beer lovers as well.

1. Wine Grapes by Jansis Robinson, Julia Harding, and Jose Vullamoza
Yansis Robinson is a wine expert, picks up wines for Queen Elizabeth II, her
assistant Julia Harding and geneticist Jose Wollamoz wrote one of the guilty hits of
last year. This year’s Wine Grapes won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
Extensive work of almost 1300 pages tells about almost all grape varieties, suitable
for making wine. All of them – varieties and mixtures – the authors counted 1368.
Actually, this is the material that the commercial wine industry of the world lives.
Each of the varieties is described in details: the history of its occurrence is obvious
and not obvious (found at the level of DNA-links) family ties, a place of growth and
wine, which can be made from it.

2. Le Domaine De La Romanee-Conti by Gert Crum
Dutch wine critic Gert Crum wrote a book about one of the main wine regions of the
world. The Domaine de la Romana-Conti is a burgundy farm, in which one of the
most expensive wines of the planet is produced. In 2011, at Christie’s Geneva
auction, the buyer paid $ 124,000 for a bottle of red wine from this 1945 harvest
farm. In the same year, Acker Merrall & Condit received $ 800,000 for a lot
consisting of 55 bottles of Romana-Conti.
Crum’s book is largely about how to learn to understand Romana-Conti wines
so that more or less confidently bargain for them at auctions. There are all the
technical subtleties and nuances, plus – comments from the heads of major auction
houses.

3. Txakoli De Bizkaia El Viaje by Mikel Garaizabal
The book is with a beautiful Basque name (that exists in the English translation) of
the winemaker and sommelier Mikel Garaizabal – something between the guide and
the profile guilty literature. The geography of the study is limited to the Basque
Country. Mainly – its largest winemaking region: Txakoli de Bizkaia. It produces
the same wine – one of the brands in the autonomous region.
Txakoli is a dry (or white, or red) sparkling wine with low alcohol content (about
10%). The mythology of the origin of this wine in the book Txakoli De Bizkaia El
Viaje is the pivot around which the history of the entire autonomous Spanish region
of Baskonia is developed from the culture of txakoli consumption to the tourist
infrastructure that arose thanks to the popular beverage.

4. Zawaq by Muriel Rosellier and Sybil Rizk
According to one theory, the first wine was cooked in the territory of present-day
Lebanon. In the second millennium BC, it was exported from Bible, the ancient
Phoenician city, on the site of which Beirut is now the capital of the country.
The latest history of Lebanese wine, described in the book, draws on a documentary
thriller (as, indeed, the history of the country itself). In 1990, a protracted civil war
between Muslims and Christians ended in Lebanon. It lasted for 15 years. Finally, a
rich country was ruined. Until the last decade of the last century, only a few wineries
survived in Lebanon. Their production left much to be desired. Next – a dramatic
story about how the industry was getting on its feet and how the wines from the
varieties of grapes, bred by the same old Phoenicians, who however have long been
associated with France, have won popularity in French wines.
The Gourmand Award Committee called this book the best story of the year about the
new to blame the world markets.

5. Wine and Architecture by Hein-Gert Vašek, Denis Dume, Katherine
Friderichs
A thematic guide to wine farms in Europe, which is more like a history of winery
architecture. Authors traveled from the general world evolution of buildings intended
for wine production to specific examples: the authors visited several dozen farms of
Germany, Portugal, Italy, Austria, France and Spain, and asked owners about the
design features of their production facilities. The book could well be called “Wine
Architecture” – it’s just a story about the trends, the principles of construction, design,
and planning of all necessary in the wine economy facilities.

6. Wine by André Dominé
This book contains everything you need to know about wine. There are an atlas,
reference book, and guidebook. Wine will guide you around the world, acquainting
you with the countries and regions involved in winemaking. Wine will also suit you if
you are going to shop for wine. The guilt is almost as old as agriculture. According to
the Bible, after the flood, Noah first planted a vine. This book tells about the history
of the appearance and production of wine, about how to store it, about the role in
serving the table, in the preparation of many dishes.

7. Cocktails: a complete guide by Jenny Davis
Author Jenny Davis presented here an overview of the 150 best cocktails of all
time. The book has everything that is necessary for those who like to mix cocktails or
drink them. Or both, which is true in most cases. In this book, equally interesting both
in design and content, you will find a simple and accessible guide to mastering the
basics of the art of making cocktails. Once you master the classics, the experience
will give you new perspectives and new sources of pleasure. On the margins of the
book, there are links to other similar recipes, which may also suit your taste.

8. The World Atlas of Whisky: New Edition by Dave Broom
The author writes about whiskey for 20 years. Four times honored with the Glen
Fiddich Award, Broome is the editor of Scotch Whiskey Review and Whiskey
Magazine: Japan, the editor-consultant of Whiskey Magazines (UK, CLUA, France,
and Spain) and the author of numerous publications in such reputable publications as
The Spectator, “Mixology” and “Imbibe.”

9. The World Atlas of Beer, Revised & Expanded by Tim Webb and
Stephen Beaumont
Do you like beer? The book explores the development of brewing, as well as its many
methods that are now used throughout the world.
Detailed maps will help you locate key breweries and clearly show the main trends of
brewing in different parts of the world.
And you will learn about the combination of beers with different dishes and how to
properly pour a beer of different types into the glass. This book is an excellent
assistant in the study of a wide variety of beers that can only be found in the world.

Erica Flemming

The author of this article Erica Flemming normally works for Freebooksummary.com. In this role she helps people writing articles and essays.