The Wines and Landscapes of Spain

Rating:
Summary: Not for the serious Spanish wine enthusiast
Review: Having waiting weeks to get this book on special order I have to say I am quite disappointed and now wish I had not gone through the effort to order it. Though a relative newcomer to wine, I believe that many of you doing a search for publications devoted specifically to Spanish wines are seeking in depth resources on Spain and it's wines. This is not that publication. This is a rather cursory look at Spain and contains no information that is not found in introductory pages of better Spanish wine resources out there. It also seems to be a showcase for the illustrations but a rather poor one at that as the book is quite small and would be out of place on your coffee table. Books this small, a borderline pocket guide, are better served for wine buying guides and lists. This book works harder at self promotion the author and the illustrator than anything else and comes across as too self-absorbed.

I recommend "The New Spain" by John Radford which is a far more substantial book. I recently purchased "The Wines of Spain" by Julian Jeffs on special order and look forward to that one as well as at over 400 pages should be in-depth. For cursory pocket guides, I suggest Jan Read's "Wines of Spain (Mitchell Beazley)" for pure lists as the data is also not well organized nor that deep.