Burgundy Vintages – A History from 1845

Rare Out of Print Hardcover

Burgundy Vintages – A History from 1845 provides a comprehensive and fascinating account of Burgundy through each vintage. The authors describe what a Burgundy lover should expect from wines, both older and younger and provide useful information for collectors at all levels of experience.

Burgundy authority Allen Meadows and longtime Burgundy collector and aficionado Doug Barzelay have co-authored an epic book that is an essential reference for all Burgundy enthusiasts – from novices to longtime collectors…and the first edition has just arrived from the printers

In Burgundy Vintages, Allen and Doug provide the reader with in-depth assessments of each vintage: what the growing season was like, how the wines have evolved, and what the future is likely to hold. Tasting notes provide further insight into the wines produced and what to buy, sell and drink — all especially critical as the price of Burgundy continues to escalate.

The book also describes how modern Burgundy was formed. It is the narrative of a journey that begins in 1845 with the oldest wine the authors have tasted and that articulates how, over the course of the ensuing 170 years, Burgundy’s culture, philosophy and techniques of winegrowing and winemaking all changed significantly. Even the vision of vinous beauty has inexorably transformed. Burgundy Vintages seeks to enrich the reader’s understanding of modern Burgundy by reconciling its present with its past even as it evolves in ways undreamed of a century ago.

Aubert de Villaine, the co-owner and co-director of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti:

One cannot truly appreciate Burgundy’s wines without understanding its history.

I wanted to take this occasion to single our two important books that merit our readers’ attention, and which I have very much enjoyed this year.

 

The first is Burgundy Vintages: A History from 1845 by Allen Meadows and Doug Barzelay, a work of considerable thoroughness and erudition that chronicles every Burgundy vintage back to 1845. Of course, there’s a litany of tasting notes, but for me, it’s the historical introductions that accompany each chapter, decade by decade, that make Burgundy Vintages so special. Too often, books on this great region begin with a cursory account of its past, before passing on to an interminable enumeration of villages and domaines. By contrast, Meadows and Barzeley succeed in explaining how the social and economic history of Burgundy shaped—and continue to shape—the wines Burgundy has produced over time. And this contextualization is realized with sophistication and nuance. In short, Burgundy Vintages is an admirable work of enduring value that I consider the most important book on Burgundy published in 20 years. (16 January, 2020)

• Condition: NEW
• Autographed Issue
• Pages: 584

• Two prestigious Gourmand World Book Awards:

• BOOK OF THE YEAR/BEST IN ALL CATEGORIES and

• BEST BOOK/FRENCH WINE
• Publisher BurghoundBooks.com, 2018
• ISBN 0692194126, 9780692194126