Book Review: Pascaline Lepeltier’s One Thousand Vines
One Thousand Vines is the price of a good bottle of California Pinot Noir, but it’s worth an entire case. Master Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier has written an original book that explores everything you ever wanted to know about wine from growing the vine, to the influence of terroir, and making and drinking wine. This is not a primer for wine newbies. It is a graduate level text for the serious, experienced wine drinker.
As others have said, this is a dense book. Just published this year, the English version (the French original was published in 2022) has 333 pages of text, but it reads like much more. However, One Thousand Vines remains eminently readable. Lepeltier manages to convey technical material in an engaging way with helpful illustrations and clear writing. Nor does it require that one read from beginning to end. Rather, one can settle down with a glass of wine in hand and randomly open to almost any page and begin reading, slowly, as this book is best savored in small portions.
Most serious wine drinkers want to know about the wines they drink and how they’re made and already have a surfeit of wine books. But I’m guessing they don’t have a book like One Thousand Wines in their wine library. They’ll find this book stimulating reading and essential to their quest to a better understanding of wine. It belongs in any connoisseur’s wine library.
Published by Mitchell Beazley, 2024.
Reviewed by Donald Winkler, PhD
