For anyone who enjoys their wines and intends to visit the Bordeaux Region, this book is essential reading. Do not be put off by its weight and nearly 500 pages, merely surrender to the enveloping enthusiasm of the author. Let him guide you along the D2, up the west bank of the Gironde, through Margaux, St Julien, Pauillac and St Estephe; then back across the Haut-Medoc, Medoc, Moulis and Listrac and south of Bordeaux to Graves and Sauternes; before the journey back up to St Emilion and to Pomerol, my personal favourite.James Seeley writes with an obvious passion for this most wonderful part of the world. His love of France, the French, their wines and food and, most especially, the Bordeaux Region is a joy to behold.
"Great Bordeaux Wines" is not a text book - at least not in the standard, often heavy sense of the word - neither is it a travel guide; it is the work of a man who wants to share his expertise and urges the reader to explore, in every sense of the word, one of the world's most important wine regions.
With seldom more than a page or two of prose on each Chateau, followed by tasting notes and essential knowledge on viticulture, vinification, commercial information and the detail of size and personnel at each and every one of the 170 Chateaux covered, this book is a most delightful companion to one's journey through the region.
Stephen Wolfenden's photographs are the perfect complement to Seeley's fresh and informing style, with the new edition having all plates in full colour.
This is a reference book, to which I shall return often and with enormous pleasure - taken with a glass or two of Pomerol, it is the perfect accompaniment.
