Wine Grapes, by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz, is the most ambitious ampelographic work ever published in English: a complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours. It maps DNA-derived family trees for the varieties of the world, settling questions of identity and parentage that had stood for centuries.
The scale is part of the statement. At 1,280 pages, 288 x 192 x 82 mm and 2,973 g, it is a reference work in the grand nineteenth-century sense, built on twenty-first-century science. It won the James Beard Award for Best Beverage Book and the Andre Simon Award.
For the collector, it is the book that answers the question behind every label: what is this variety, where did it come from, and what should it taste like. It is listed on the publisher's site at GBP 175.00, at penguin.co.uk.
