Brief review: South-West France: The Wines and Winemakers

Zachary Ross

Zachary Ross
South-West France: The Wines and Winemakers
by Paul Strang (photographs by Jason Shenai)
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009
374 pages

This was just published, and I just got my copy. I've thumbed through just a bit of it but the book looks to be very informative and has some attractive photographs, though it is mostly text. Strang admirably covers the history of the region overall, as well as of each AOC, VdP, etc., and there is rather thorough attention paid to individual producers.

I was particularly pleased with the (short) Basque glossary provided in the section on Iroulguy. "Lehengo," for example, means "from olden times," while "Haitza," as in Domaine Arretxea's Cuve Haitza, means simply "oak". Cuve Oak, no wonder it doesn't wow me like Arretxea's regular red wine does.
 
Paul Strang's "Wines of South-West France" (1996) and "Languedoc-Roussillon: The Wines and Winemakers" (2006) are important volumes in my wine library. He is thorough in his research, and, despite this, is also a wonderful writer.
 
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