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FEATURES | Inside Bordeaux

Christmas Wine Books

Jane Anson, December 2022

Château de Fargues: The Insane Ambition of the Lur Saluces family
Hélène Farnault, François Poincet

Just in French for now, Château de Fargues is a pretty much the most appropriately titled book of the year. Making wine in Sauternes is, by most measures, a pretty crazy undertaking, and yet the Lur Saluces clan have been doing it for 550 years. This beautifully produced book takes you through some of the key moments of that time, tracking the history of owners Alexandre and his son Philippe de Lur Saluces and their ancestors, in Fargues since 1492, moulding Sauternes in their image at both Château d’Yquem and Château de Fargues.

Over the centuries they have pursued excellence in the face of fires, revolutions, economic downturns, striving to make sense of a wine that needs to be harvested grape by grape, with tiny yields, only in the greatest years. Throughout the book, renowned chefs from Christophe Bacquié, Éric Briffard, Frédéric Doucet, Michel Guerard, Jean-Michel Lorain and Guy Savoy suggest superb recipes to go alongside different vintages, from baked oysters to exotic fruits and blue cheeses.
224 pages
Glenat, €39.95 – buy from the estate, with €20 postage)


Changes to be made to Vine Pruning

Eugene Poussard

Over the past few years, pruning has been given a makeover, almost entirely thanks to the work of Italian consultancy Simonit & Sirch. But their methods, which ask estates to rethink their entire approach to this most essential of vineyard tasks, uses a method first described by Eugene Poussard at the start of the 20th century, which better respects the sap flow of the vine, providing a tailored pruning to each plant. The method aims at reducing the impact of the cut injury on the plant, by separating desiccated areas (scars) from the main sap flow, thus insuring a continued flow of the sap and reducing the risks of wood diseases such as Esca.

René Lafon’s classic, provocative work on the Poussard pruning methodology, Changes to be made to Vine Pruning – is now available for the first time in English (with the original French text included as well). It’s arguably the most important, historical work on vine pruning and this beautiful, hardcover edition is now available through Ex Vinum publishing. The translation is fully annotated, with 120 footnotes and over 60 retouched photographs and illustrations. There’s also a foreword by François Dal, and an extensive introduction by Robert Walters that seeks to put the work into both historical and modern context.
268 pages
AUS$45, Odd Culture

Drinking with the Valkyries
Andrew Jefford

I worked with Andrew for almost two decades at Decanter, and it remains one of my great joys that for almost half of that time we were both columnists (I believe Andrew was Monday and I was Thursday). It meant I was able to see close up just what a remarkably talented writer he is. This is a collection of his columns and articles (the title refers to drinking young vintage port), and is impossible to resist. Far-ranging and fascinating, he delves into whatever subject grabs his interest, and brings us along with him, deftly conveying to us what makes different winemakers, regions and wine styles tick.
272 pages


The Bordeaux Club
Neil McKendrick

A slightly strange concept this one, covering a group of friends who would regularly meet up and drink great Bordeaux wine for more than 70 years, growing old together, enjoying the wines as they evolve and change alongside their friendships. As the title suggests, the focus in on the great wines of Bordeaux, and you’ll find plenty of reminiscences and tasting stories around vintages dating back to the mid 19th century.

It sounds like a book strictly for the real wine geek, but in fact it is thoroughly charming, capturing so much of what we love about wines, and their ability to draw people together around a table of good food and great conversation.
384 pages
Académie du Vin Library
, £34

Inside Bordeaux
Jane Anson

I could hardly not have this on the list, could I? With over 800 pages of in-depth writing, Inside Bordeaux will take you beyond what you already know about the region, and has been called a ‘category buster’ by Wine Anorak and ‘the Bordeaux bible’ by Le Figaro.

I thought I would include here Victoria Moore’s review in The Telegraph:
“One of the biggest challenges when writing about Bordeaux is: how do you let the subject breathe? Bordeaux is well-trammelled. It can feel hidebound by received wisdoms and hierarchies. But Anson’s persistent theme is evolution. This she manages to convey through her tone, marrying a lightness of touch with the depth of knowledge that comes from all her years living there, talking, visiting, listening, tasting and researching arcane documents in libraries and archives.

“This is an excellent book and a must-own for any wine lover. The producer profiles are compact with detail and Anson’s feet-on-the-ground knowledge shines throughout. What comes across throughout is Anson’s desire to share her insights and finds. She is very notably not a self-aggrandising writer: her prose does not smugly ooze, ‘Look at me! See what knowledge I have and what judgments I can make because I own this field!’ Rather, she is someone whose eye is on her readers and the pleasure they might derive from her advice. This book is sprinkled with heartfelt recommendations. I happily browsed for hours, late into many nights.
800 pages
Inside Bordeaux
(BB&R Press 2020)
Purchase in the UK here, the US here or full stockists here.

Bordeaux Legends – NFT ebook
Jane Anson, Isabelle Rozenbaum, Ian Padgham 

  • The ebook of Bordeaux Legends, which recounts the stories of the First Growths from their creation through to the French Revolution, the 1855 classification, World War II, the promotion of Mouton Rothschild, and through to what it takes to run these estates today. The text is as the original, fully brought up to date with footnotes, and includes Isabelle Rozenbaum’s photography.
  • Francis Ford Coppola’s updated foreword to the book.
  • Renowned digital artist Ian Padgham’s specially-created digital First Growth artwork.
  • The ebook will come individually watermarked to personalise each NFT, and can easily be read on mobiles, desktops and various ebook readers.
  • All of this for €100.
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