2000 Champagnes

Rating:
Summary: A bit flat...
Review: Juhlin's "2000 Champagnes" has one major strength: copious and detailed tasting notes from a well-seasoned expert. If your palate is similar to his, you've got a great guide to the wines made and released up until about 1990. It also has many excellent photographs and information-packed sidebars.

The first half of the book is given over to the history of Champagne, how it's grown and made, how to buy, store, and taste it, and different typed of Champagne. Juhlin is clearly knowledgeable and enthusiastic, but the text seems to assume a that the reader already knows a fair amount about Champagne. This is not a good book for beginners who want an introduction. There are a lot of good details about terroir and growing conditions, but there are also generalizations which left me wishing for a more comprehensive explanation.

The book's biggest flaw, however, is that it is very poorly organized. It lacks an index. This is unforgivable in almost any non-fiction work, particularly one that is designed to serve as a reference.

Say you want to know the size of a Nebachudnezzar. You have to take a guess from the Table of Contents. If you guess right (it's in the Buy, Store and Taste chapter), you still have to turn 20-some pages to find it.

Or say you want to know the difference between Krug Vintage and Krug Collection Champagne? First, you realize that the Producers section is not alphabetical, but subdivided by region and then by Juhlin's ranking of the producers' quality level, so a trip to the back of the book to look up the page number in the "List of Producers" is required. Once found, you see that the listing for Krug contains many tasting notes on these 2 wines in various vintages, but no explanation of the difference between them. Back to the Table of Contents - how about the chapter "Champagne - the different types"? Ah, there it finally is, near the end of the chapter, listed under the "Late-disgorged Champagnes" heading. But it isn't a late-disgorged Champagne, so even if you knew what it was and wanted to read a bit more about it, you'd have a difficult time finding it.

Other important pieces of information about the individual Champagne houses are scattered among the tasting notes rather than in the introductory text for that house. When did Richard Goeffroy start making Dom Perignon at Moet & Chandon? A hint is buried in the tasting note for the 1990, but it isn't really clear if he debuted with the '90, the '89, or the '88.

Even the book's greatest strength, the tasting note or "Producer's" section, is also one of its weaknesses. None of the tasting notes are really up-to-date any longer, as the book was published in 1999. This should be solved with Juhlin's newly-released update. Even so, books are not the best medium for up-to-date tasting notes on wines, as they quickly become irrelevant as the wines develop. Particularly so for Champagne: Since is is sensitive to poor storage, buying older bottles in the secondary market is a much higher risk than with sturdier red wines. Unless you've purchased the wines on release and kept under proper conditions in your cellar, you really can't be sure of what you're getting.

For those interested in an easy-to-use reference on Champagne, Tom Stevenson's "World Encyclopedia of Champagne and Sparkling Wine" is much better.

Rating:
Summary: The Champagne Addict's Definitive Guide
Review: Surely the most delicious book ever written on the fabulously glamorous subject of Champagne. A thirst quenching encyclopedia that answers all your questions and guides you through the sparkling world of this fizzy French drink. The layout is elegant and the text is on-the-dot clear. It is a beautiful book and it makes a great gift to all and everyone who wishes to indulge in Champagne know-how. A definate must-have for those who enjoy good food and good drink!