Hello;
A week ago or so, § Lauksna § asked how to begin, and I suggested (among other things) getting a good book and finding a good magazine to follow. I later gave it a second thought, and, really, that wasn´t very helpful. There are oodles of magazines and gazarks of books, and which ones are the best is not easy to know. So, I´d like to raise the question, whihc books and magazines do you read? One book that we find rather useful is the annual Hugh Johnson, which slips into the jacket pocket or handbag easily and cntains lots of information of huge value for those of us who still do not know which vintages are the better, and whether Ch Haut Batailley is normally a safe buy. Funnily enough, there is even a French version, which we have bought in Beaune. While there are great French books concerning wine, these tend to be huge volumes more suited for a back pack than an elegant hand bag. Whle Hugh Johnson is a bit of a vademecum, a book dealing in depth with the art of tasting is 'The Pleasure of Wine' from Slow Food Editions - at least, I guess that is its title in English - I read it in my paltry Italian, and I definitely like it (even if, at times, it tends to deal a lot with things of an Italian nature).
The one Anglophone magazine I read regularly is Decanter - I like the articles about the different regions, and discussions about various current vintages (e g, about St Emilion Grand Cru 2001 in the latest issue).
So, what books and magazines do you read?
Cheers!
Nils Gustaf