15 used & new from £4.27
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
The New France
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

The New France (Hardcover)

by Andrew Jefford (Author), Jason Lowe (Photographer) "There is a growing realisation not just in France but around the wine world that while the final decades of the twentieth century may have..." (more)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


4 new from £27.29 11 used from £4.27
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £30.00 £21.49 26 used & new from £17.50

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
   FRANCE 24 Breaking News opens new browser window
news.france24newsletter.com  -  Subscribe to the FRANCE 24 breaking news. Get news of the world! 
   News on France opens new browser window
www.RFI.fr/France  -  All the lastest News to read and to listen to the RFI's website 
   The French News opens new browser window
Ask.com  -  Find the Best Results for The French News. Ask us! 
  
 

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wine

The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wine

by John Radford
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £17.99
French Wine (Eyewitness Companions)

French Wine (Eyewitness Companions)

by Robert Joseph
5.0 out of 5 stars (6)  £7.93
Wine Report 2009

Wine Report 2009

by Tom Stevenson
3.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £8.99
Brunello to Zibibbo: The Wines of Tuscany, Central and Southern Italy (Classic wine library)

Brunello to Zibibbo: The Wines of Tuscany, Central and Southern Italy (Classic wine library)

by Nicolas Belfrage
4.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £15.42
Bordeaux: Medoc & Graves v. 1 (Mitchell Beazley Classic Wine Library)

Bordeaux: Medoc & Graves v. 1 (Mitchell Beazley Classic Wine Library)

by Stephen Brook
3.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £25.00
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Mitchell Beazley (17 Oct 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 184000410X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1840004106
  • Product Dimensions: 28.7 x 22.6 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 234,493 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Product Description

Author Andrew Jefford has travelled extensively in each of France's 14 wine regions to investigate the personalities and producers who have masterminded the resurgence of the French wine industry. Producer listings are a significant and important feature of the book as Jefford covers the background of the producers he feels worthy of mention for their contribution to the world of wine and their own individual wines. The book includes research on terroir and its effect on the wines of each region, and how accurately it is reflected by the appellation controlee system.


About the Author

Andrew Jefford has combined his passions for writing and for wine since the late 1980s. He is the London Evening Standard's drink correspondent and contributes to a number of wine publications and websites. He presents on BBC Radio 4 and has written a range of books on wine. Andrew has received a multitude of awards, including Glenfiddich Wine Writer of the Year, International Wine & Spirit Communicator of the Year, and Glenfiddich Radio Broadcast of the Year. He lives in Hastings. Jason Lowe travels the world extensively photographing a number of subjects. His outstanding contributions to book photography include the award-winning Malt Whisky (Mitchell Beazley), and Nose to Tail Eating, among many others. Jason works with Simon Hopkinson on the Saturday Independent, for which he won the 2001 Glenfiddich award for food photography. He also contributes to a range of international publications.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
There is a growing realisation not just in France but around the wine world that while the final decades of the twentieth century may have been years of great progress in the winery, they were also years of catastrophe in vineyards. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(3)
(2)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The New France
81% buy the item featured on this page:
The New France 4.2 out of 5 stars (5)
French Wine (Eyewitness Companions)
8% buy
French Wine (Eyewitness Companions) 5.0 out of 5 stars (6)
£7.93
The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wine
4% buy
The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wine 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£17.99
Wine Report 2009
3% buy
Wine Report 2009 3.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£8.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Should have been called The Real France, 27 Feb 2004
This book could be summed up in two words - France and terroir. Yet to do so would be a massive injustice on such an and obviously well-researched book.

Firstly, to France. The author, Andrew Jefford takes you on a memorable tour of the wine regions of France, as well as a background of the history of French Wine Law. For each region that he visits, he explains the history of the area, what is good about it, some myths and common accusations, and gives details of the top producers.

Then there's the terroir. You cannot help but come away from this book understanding that the soil, climate and history of a region are intrinsic to the production of a wine, much more so than in other countries. And it is the history of French wine makers, who care passionately about what they do (if a little arrogantly in the past), that has produced these efforts.

The most impressive aspect of the book, however, was it's style - I found it to be a breath of fresh. Most other wine books are full of facts, figures, maps and diagrams, with precious little in the way of decent narrative. This volume, on the other hand, paints a vivid picture of the vineyards of Burgundy, the landscape of Alsace, and the beauty of South West France. I almost felt as though I was with Mr Jefford as he described tasting white Burgundies in the cellars beneath Corton-Charlemagne.

Overall, a very good effort, and a recommendation.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Perceptive, enlightening, witty: wine with soul, 2 April 2007
By R. S. Stanier "Robert Stanier" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides) (Hardcover)
This book is brilliant on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start.
First up, it operates as a guide to French wine. It explains French wine law (why labels on wine tell you what they do), it gives you vintages assessments for every region in recent years, and it lists recommended producers from every region in France (and even which within their range are worth trying). The information here will bypass absolute beginners, but will still please a broad range of people, from those with just a drop of knowledge to geniune connoisseurs.
Second, it is a wonderful evocation of France. Time and again, descriptions of scenes and moments drip with atmosphere: Jefford's witty, eloquent prose is a pleasure to read. And he's strong on describing the current issues in the French wine industry.
Yet what's most significant is that Jefford is a man with a thesis whose implications are in their way both moral and spiritual. In the new France he envisages, wine should become more truly reflective of the terroir from which it grows. Far from lambasting the AOC system (tying labelling to terroir rather than grape-variety), he rejoices in it.
And this delight in the invidivuation of wines, to reflect every nuance in the land, leads him to lament two things: first, the increasing branding of wine, which inevitably seeks to iron out variation.
His vision is to get rid of the marketing departments: let the vignerons become both viticulteur and salesman. Let those who understand the land, and the wine from which it grows, be those who communicate it to the world. That way, truth lies.
His second lament is that of winemakers who do not acknowledge their land in which they work. He laments New World winemakers and British winewriters who seek only after 'fruit'. Fruitiness in wine is for him a temporary, superficial pleasure, because fruity wine can come from anywhere. Wine should emphasise its terroir, for only that piece of land can produce that bottle of wine. Choice of grapes should therefore not be decided on by what pleases the public, but by what best draws out and delineates the terroir from which it comes.

It is possibly an elitist argument, but in the five years since the first edition of this book was published, it has been substantiated rather than damaged. Chasing the consumers led to widespread planting of chardonnay in the last 90s, only for consumers to head away to sauvignon blanc and viognier. The Robert Parker inspired Merlot phenomenon led to hectare upon hectare of Merlot but "Sideways" led a counter rebellion against it.

For Jefford, yes, grow Merlot, but only where Merlot draws out the land. His heroes are those who insist on, Carignan, say, in Provence, because that's what works there. The vigneron should submit himself to the land, not try to make the land grow what is not 'true' to that land: that is too arrogant. Jefford's not uncritical of the AOC system - it's clumsy and slow to change in many places - but the fact that it that has preserved pinot noir in Burgundy, chenin blanc in the Loire, and syrah in the Rhone etc. is something for which he rejoices.

In exploring this thesis, the whole book is transported beyond a guide to French wine to something much deeper and more profound. I didn't agree with all of it, but in its quirky way it's made me think more than almost any other piece of non-fiction I've read in the last five years.
A brilliant book, then, full of pleasures and with much to ruminate on. One you will keep wanting to dip into.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars French wine and New?, 9 May 2003
Excellent book showing the huge changes we are now seeing in the oldest of old world wine areas. Andrew deals with each region of France seperately and is very informative both about the changes in each region, but also about the new wave of winemakers, using a combination of new world techniques, and old world knowledge to produce exceptional wine.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not so new
The negatives: misses some of the more exciting developments in both the Loire Valley and the South West to name but 2. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Nigel Corrigan

4.0 out of 5 stars Tank you for the terrior!
Very good book if you are seriously interested in wine. The thesis is that "terrior" is the bggest factor for "fine" wine. And the French are the king exponents. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2003

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject













i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.