Customer Reviews

The Wines of Spain (Classic Wine Library)

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Why Spanish wines?
When experimenting with wines that suited my budget (less than ten dollars a bottle), I found that most French wines disappointed, while ALL the Spanish wines were very good.
Hence, Spanish wines.
A quotation from the book supports, at least in part, my observations -
"It is now almost impossible to buy a bad Rioja"

Julian Jeffs book is extremely well written, with thorough discussions of the climate, the soil, the grapes, the wines and the Bodegas of the various regions in Spain. Interspersed are several interesting historical details and cultural and literary references. Wonderful to read in the chapter on Sherry was Falstaff's speech in praise of "sherris-sack" from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 quoted in full. Even better was to find out that they have a monument to G. K. Chesterton in Sitges, a Catalonian town where he often visited.

Refreshingly, this book does not have any photographs - it is not wine-porn! Instead there are lovely line drawings by Wendy Jones, that blend in well with the text, without distracting from it. Again refreshingly, wines are not classified individually. The book will not drive the potential wine buyer to worrying about the relative worth and merits of an 85 point wine compared to a 90 point wine. The classification is done for each region by rating the vintage years on a scale of 1 (least good) to 7 (best). There are additional comments about individual wines in the discussions of the Bodegas.

The book is useful for the Spanish wine enthusiast, and it is good reading for anyone interested in wine.

I recommend "The New Spain" over this book, but if you want another view into wine, this is a great addition.

Pros: superbly written, great information
Cons: average maps, not as in depth as others

Recently, I conducted a Spanish wine seminar at the wine shop I work at. I used this text and Radford's The New Spain for reference purposes. Both were excellent and irreplaceable.

Radford's book is great for its photography and chapters on each wine area, focusing on history, culture, viticulture, vinification and grape varieties; Jeffs' book offers more nuts and bolts. He organizes the main regions into Catalonia, Aragon, Rioja, The Centre-North, Castilla y Leon, The North, The Levant, the Centre, Extremadura, Andalucia, and The Islands. Within each of the main regions, he looks at the various sub-regions and further breaks it down by detailing average rainfall, altitude at which the vineyards are grown, soil, climate, grape varieties (from major to minor) etc...

If you read Radford's book, you get a broader, more polished picture with history and gorgeous photographs. He too divides Spain into the main regions and then looks at each area in context to the region and history. Radford includes information on viticulture but his focus is on making the area more comprehensive in terms of illustration and overview. Jeffs, without the use of photography (there are plenty of maps though), provides the details that bog down narratives. Radford you can read cover to cover as if exploring each area one-by-one. Jeffs is the book you look for in need of reference. It is more like an almanac. He too provides history and a bit more detail when discussing the bodegas. In Radford you get a few notes on the bodegas in Spain. In Jeffs, he provides more information and more detail.

My one gripe with Jeffs is that when you want to look for a specific DO in the book, like Terra Alta for example, there is no actual page number on the table of contents referring you to the DO. You basically have to go to Catalonia and then search page by page until you find it. Either that or go to the index to find the page numbers which is equally inconvenient. There are also some other typos and little mistakes. The North is listed on the Contents page as being on page 112 when really it is page 197. Small, just little bumpy hassles that need mending. Otherwise this book is full of enough information to make this reference book a must have for wine and Spanish wine lovers.

This is an eminently readable book that's especially important these days as Spanish wines increase their market share due to their great value/price ratio. (You get a lot of wine for your euro-battered dollar). Jeffs is a good writer, his prose is lucid and his take on the subject is interesting. I have also found his tasting notes to be reliable.
It is true that the maps are below the standard that has been set in other wine books, but let us consider that a minor flaw like Barabara Walters' lisp or Steve Carlton's lack of a move to first base. Take your copy to the wine shop and you'll save the cover price on the first trip.


Lynn Hoffman authorThe New Short Course in Wine

I am a Certified Sommelier and have been in the wine business for the past seven years. I found this book to be one of the best I have read on the wines and regions of Spain. The information is detailed and Interestingly presented. I did find the amount of typos a bit disturbing, but not enough to stop me from recommending it strongly.