Wine writing

Y

Yixin

Yixin
Just read Terry Theise's article in World of Fine Wine, which was a very Theise type of article. I enjoyed it.

It got me thinking about wine writing in other languages - I read the French and German publications (both with some difficulty), and sometimes peek at both Italian and Spanish sites. And obviously Mandarin (there are some very ambitious publications). And it struck me that I haven't really come across similar types of writing in languages other than English - overtly (overbearingly?) literary, manifestly about wine but only obliquely (if at all) referencing tasting notes.

So am I missing something? Any particular magazines/sites/blogs I should check out?
 
I don't really know if the genre has caught on in other languages but it's worth remembering that it was pioneered by drunken Brits who figured out how to make a living from all those long lunches in Burgundy.
 
I have access to both the RVF and Bettane/Desseauve websites in French, because I subscribe to the former magazine and buy the latter guide. Michel Bettane writes very well (he is "professeur agrégé de lettres classiques") but I wouldn't call his contributions literary; they are firmly about wine.

In previous French generations, there was some lyrical wine writing with floridly descriptive TNs but the style has now become more matter of fact, although some people's TNs remain a bit high flown by English language standards.

Amongst English language old-timers, the books of H.Warner Allen stand out for their literary approach. They were beautifully written and strewn with erudite quotations from the classics. By modern standards he didn't know a lot about wine but he had friends who gave him the opportunity to drink treasures like Ch“teau Lafite 1864 and Romanée-Conti 1911 at maturity and he wrote wonderfully poetic descriptions of them.
 
I should probably rephrase my question - is there someone like Theise writing in French or German? G&G strike me as a pair of LPV forummers with moderate success. Tim, I'm not swayed by Bettane's prose; a bit too cursory and modern.
 
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