This fully updated edition takes us through the riveting twists and turns of the history of winemaking all the way to the very latest trials and innovations of the present day?

Join Oz Clarke on a journey through the ages as he explores the places, the people and the bottles that have shaped the captivating history of wine.

Starting from the probable birth of a wine culture in ancient Georgia, Oz travels from 6000 BC through the fact and fiction of Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, and then along the winding trail right up to the latest innovations in winemaking today.

Packed with sparkling wit and charismatic storytelling, Oz shares more than a hundred fascinating tales and woven into these are probably a hundred more. From revered medieval monks to revolutionary discoveries, Oz paints a wonderfully vivid picture of the ever-evolving story of wine.

‘It’s brilliant. Exactly what’s wanted. -‘ Hugh Johnson

One of the great pleasures of wine is to drink it where it is grown and made. The opportunity to meet growers, winemakers and winery owners is what draws people to visit wineries and to ‘have an experience in the vineyard’. This is your essential guide to find out about England and its world beating sparklers and still wines that have captivated the wine world.

The modern view of English wine is of a country amazingly blessed with vast tracts of soil suitable for viticulture, much of it almost indistinguishable from the chalky slopes of Champagne and Chablis, and of a country taking full advantage of the vagaries of climate change to ripen Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to levels perfect for sparkling wine, and increasingly excellent still wines. this book helps you find the best English and Welsh wines, from fizz, whites, some impressive reds and even dessert and orange wines.

The book includes:
-Exciting Times How it used to be; The Nyetimber effect; Climate: is it almost perfect now?; Location is key; Planting
like made; A question of style: sparkling or still; and Grape varieties: a race to the top.
-British Bubbles What is needed to make good fizz; Champagne, the original fizz; Bubbles and how they’re created.
-A Tour Of the Regions – covers personal experiences and reflections from Oz’s many years of visiting talented and passionate producers up and down the country. From Yorkshire to the far west of Cornwall and across to Wales, a small but dynamic part of the UK’s wine movement, Oz recommends wines he has enjoyed and found interesting and encourages you to try for yourself.