The Best Wine Books in 2021
For your reading pleasure
I have 3 big passion in life: wine, food, and books. Perfect bliss for me is drinking, eating, and reading all day long. I normally only indulge my passions on the weekend, otherwise, my liver, weight, and eyes might quickly get damaged beyond repair. But I’ve found a solution: I can combine them. And so can you! How? By stocking up on some of our favorite Best Wine Books!
These Best Wine Books will let you read about drinking, no calories, no hangover. The best part? They are also very fun and education, helping you expand your knowledge of wine varieties, wine cultivation, wine etiquette, and much more.
Great as a gift to yourself, or a loved one, these are affordable, guilt-free choices to spoil your inner wine enthusiast with rich tasting notes of knowledge…
If you’re already a wine expert and crave an even better, in-depth education on wine, we’d recommend you to read our features on How to Become a Sommelier, and Best Sommelier Courses. Need more reading material on wine? Then also check out our editorial on the Best Wine Magazines!
Best Wine Books
Wine. All the Time.
This book helps you navigate through all aspects of wine culture. From picking the right bottle for a dinner party to picking wine on your palate, not price. Praised for its funny, down-to-earth narrative and useful tips, Wine. All the Time. will definitely engage beginners and experts alike.
Marissa will teach you how to read and understand wine labels, explore your own palette, find perfect wine & food pairings and more. Don’t stress out the next time you have to pick a bottle in the liquor store: Marrisa has got you, and your taste buds, covered in this easy read filled with useful info and hilarious personal anecdotes.
You’ll breeze through his book in no-time, and its perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon in front of the fireplace. Also an original gift for your wine enthusiast friends, it’s a book you’ll actually want to read twice. And that’s a testimony to the funny, witty, yet informative narrative!
Wine Folly – Magnum Edition
The beautifully designed book is available in a digital Kindle version, or a special edition hardcover. It includes knowledge on a whole range of wine-related subjects, all presented with the aid of sleek charts and colorful infographics.
This title contains chapters on more than a 100 grape and wine-varieties, all color-coded to help you quickly navigate your way to the desired info. It also has inspirational food and wine pairing suggestions, tips on wine tasting, a wine region guide with detailed maps of the most renowned wine regions, and more.
We would definitely classify the Wine Folly – the Magnum Edition as an educational read. Its tone is more informative than entertaining; meaning you’ll particularly enjoy it if you truly want to learn more about wine. Written by ‘Madeline Puckette, a certified sommelier, and Justin Hammack, a branding expert, it combines in-depth insights with colorful graphics in one, eye-catching folio.
Wine Folly – the Magnum Edition also makes a great gift to a wine enthusiast in your life. Though we’d say its especially interesting for beginners, even pro’s might learn a thing or two from this great title in our Best Wine Book selection.
50 Ways to Love Wine More
Jim Laughren is an award-winning writer and proves a very engaging narrator in this Best Wine Books title. He takes us on a creative adventurous through wine regions, sharing facts and expertise on all types of wine-related topics.
The chapters of 50 Ways to Love Wine More are short, bite-sized nuggets of wine knowledge. This makes it easy to pick up when you have a spare moment. You don’t have to wrestle your way through dense information. Though, because of the witty, easy writing style, you’ll quickly find yourself binging chapters – wrapped up by his tips on delicious food pairings, or fascinating wine history.
The writer has even included chapters on fun activities involving wine, providing you with great inspiration for your next dinner parties and family gatherings.
Whilst some wine books can sometimes feel a bit pretentious, or pompous, but Laughren perfectly balances the line between educational and entertaining. 50 Ways to Love Wine More is currently only available in a paperback version, not a digital copy. However, as this book is complemented by lovely photos and images – a printed copy does feel like the right way to appreciate this lively read on everything wine.
The Wine Bible
If you’ve ever browsed a wine section in a bookstore, chances are you’ve already come across The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. It’s the best-selling wine book in the USA, with more than a million copies sold!
MacNeil is the only American to have won every major wine award given to writing in the English Language and is rated as one of our country’s most renowned wine experts. A classic in wine literature, every vino enthusiast should have a copy of The Wine Bible in their bedside drawer…
This is the point where you might ask: ‘Why?’ What makes this book such a must-have? Well, it takes you on an intense journey through the wonderful world of wine. The Wine Bible educated you extensively on the fundamentals of wine, all accompanied by entertaining anecdotes, beautiful photography, handy glossaries, and comprehensive wine definitions.
The writer manages to bundle her impressive expertise in an all-encompassing book that will delight, inform, and inspire you. Karen has done all the hard research for the reader, tasting over 10.000 different wines, and traveling to wine regions all over the globe. The Wine Bible doesn’t restrict itself to popular, well-known wine regions such as Burgundy, France: it goes a step further. Included in this copy of The Wine Bible are also wine varieties of Japan, China, Mexico, and Slovenia.
What also makes The Wine Bible such an essential in your bookcase, is its unique narrative style. However, whilst we enjoy the lyrical descriptions of wine, some readers might find it a bit too poetic or vague. For example: describing a Riesling wine as “A laser beam, a sheet of ice, a great crackling bolt of lighting.” If this style doesn’t appeal to you, you might not appreciate this thick bundle of imaginative writing.
Wine Food: New Adventures in Drinking and Cooking
Wine Food: New Adventures in Drinking and Cooking combines all 3 of my favorite things in one, must-have title: reading, drinking AND food. This release by winery owner Dana Frank and stylist Andrea Slonecker contains 75 delicious recipes – all inspired by affordable wine pairings.
![Wine Food: New Adventures in Drinking and Cooking [A Recipe Book]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/514U54+fC9L.jpg)
Wine Food: New Adventures in Drinking and Cooking is full of tasty culinary inspiration, peppered with educational facts about grape varieties, wine regions, tannins, and aromas.
The 75 recipes cover all types of meals, from brunches to picnics, weeknight dinners to fancy dinner parties with friends. There’s a perfect match for every preference and occasion. Each recipe includes in-depth info on the best wine pairings, recommendations for labels the wine style, plus background details on where the wine originates from.
And that’s not all! Wine Food also contains a wine flavors ‘cheat sheet’, a short and easy course on wine tastings, a label lexicon lesson, and illustrated pages on matching wine with types of favorite foods (from take-out to sweet treats).
What makes this title stand out is that it doesn’t just focus on merely food pairings, but also helps you take your wine knowledge to the next level. When you have a better understanding on your wine basics, it will become a lot easier to concoct your own culinary creations to pair with your favorite Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Trust us: if you’re a foodie and wine enthusiast, this inspiring book needs to be on your kitchen counter!
Wine Food: New Adventures in Drinking and Cooking is available in a Kindle and a hardcover version. We also highly recommend it as an original gift for your loved ones. Plus, gifting them this affordable choice on our Best Wine Books list might result in getting invited to some scrumptious dinner parties in the future. It’s a win-win situation!
Bonus pick for beginners to wine:
Wine For Dummies
Now, we realize most of our readers will already be at this level, but for those that are new to the world of wine: this is a great book to get started!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting you don’t know anything about wine. That’s why we’ve created this Best Wine Books list: to help you develop your knowledge and learn more about vino. If the other books sounded too complicated, Wine for Dummies is a great starting point for your journey.
We also think this book makes a fun gift for loved ones that are not into wine yet. For example, a partner who has only recently made the switch from beer to wine, or maybe a friend or family member who is turning 21. Or simply as a cheeky gift to that one friend who pretends to know about wine, but never actually makes any sense.
If you have a wine dummy in your life – and we mean that in the most affectionate way possible – why not treat them to a crash course in the form of this easy-read?
Our verdict
To be honest: every title on this Best Wine Books list is a great read. It’s hard for us to pick a favorite. Which book you will like best also depends on what type of story you prefer. If you want a more informative wine education, the Wine Bible or Wine Folly Magnum Edition may be your better matches.
That said if you want something a bit more light-hearted and easy to read, the Wine. All the Time. The Casual Guide to Confident Drinking definitely fits the bill. You’ll learn something and probably laugh out loud a few times, as this title is educational AND entertaining.
Our verdict is to simply try them all if you can. Yes, we know that might be a bit pricey, but many of these titles are available in a much cheaper e-book version. Plus, the more expensive books are worth the splurge, as they also double as very sophisticated coffee-table decoration. Indulge yourself with a Best Wine Books option, you deserve it!
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