If you are looking for gift ideas or just want to take some time out with a wine book then take a look at these new wine titles recently released.

Since this is a computer publication I have to recommend a computer publication as the ideal gift for the computer/wine geek. The Grape Taste of New Zealand by Nigel and Marie Hanson is a new publication on CD-ROM and it is certainly extensive in its coverage of NZ vineyards. I like the way this CD is presented - it looks just like a spiral bound book with front and back covers and uses the 'Digital Flip' and 'E-book Systems', which makes navigation rather easy. This well thought out and presented CD summarises 380 New Zealand wineries by region or direct access by name via the index. There is extensive map coverage and I prefer these maps to some of the others in the print publications of today. As well there is over 100 pages of winemaker biographies and the wineries they make the wine for. Hyperlinks let you jump from here to there with ease. Want to know how many producers in Central Otago make a Pinot Noir, then flip to the Wines by Region section and you will find out that there are already 34 pinot noir producers in this region, which is rather staggering for a region that is so relatively young.

As well as being a great source of information, the Grape Taste of New Zealand is a great holiday planner too. If planning in advance, then connect to the Internet and use the e-mail or website links to assist in your itinerary. Don't let the fact that this is a CD-ROM stop you taking the e-book away on holiday either. All you need is your laptop and the CD and you are on your way to touring the vineyards of New Zealand with all the information you need at your fingertips. At just NZ$29.95, this is the cheapest, most extensive and most up to date wine guide on the market in December 2002.

To preview the CD-ROM and find out where to buy, visit www.grapetaste.net.

If you are looking for places to stay and to eat, use the Grape Taste of New Zealand CD in conjunction with Cuisine Wine Country (NZ$16.95 magazine format) previously reviewed here. Once the leading wine guide for the wine tourist, the lack of maps have lost it this premier position in my opinion. However this is still a wealth of information in this colourful glossy guide that is user-friendly in its presentation and information within.

There is no doubt that Michael Cooper's Wine Atlas of New Zealand ($125 hardback) will be lauded as the glamour wine book of the year. It is quite majestic in presentation with maps, wine labels and awesome double-page photographs accompanying the 172,000-word text. The arrangement of the book with the background of the country's wine industry, the principal grape varieties and a tour of the country's vineyards by region follows the formula of Cooper's previous scholarly work, The Wines and Vineyards of New Zealand. But the Atlas has more detail about the geographical differences of each region and the sub regions within and gives special emphasis to the key wineries and personalities that helped to shape the industry into what it is today. (For more on the Wine Atlas of New Zealand check out my Featured Publication review. )

With Christmas just a twinkle away, this will make a splendid gift for that someone very special.

More affordable though not as picturesque is Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines 2003 ($29.95 paperback). This annual publication rates wines by grape variety using a 5-star maximum rating system, a winemaker's rating for vintage and a when to drink guide for previous vintages. Over 1800 wines are reviewed with chardonnay (421 reviews), pinot noir (255), sauvignon blanc (230) and riesling (180) the most popular varieties. There is also a comprehensive summary of the vintage 2002.

Cooper continues his rating of Super Classic', 'Classic' and 'Potential Classic' wines. This year there are still 23 'Super Classics' with no change from last year's list and 33 'Classics' with Isabel Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and CJ Pask Reserve Merlot elevated to this rank. Comparing this to the list in the 2002 Buyer's Guide means that 8 wines have slipped from Cooper's 'Classic' classification. Several of those labels are no longer made while others no longer make the grade. The 44 'Potential Classics' include 11 newcomers.

Cooper's 'Best Buy of the Year' is the Villa Maria Cellar Selection Merlot Cabernet 2000.

We are always looking for a bargain when it comes to wine and now there is a book to help you suss out some of the best. It is Joelle Thomson's Under $20 Wine Guide (NZ$19.95 paperback), the first of the 2002/2003 series of annual wine guides that hit the market earlier this year. It is Joelle's fourth edition in her bargain wine buyer's series but this edition sees the price raised to an upper limit of $20 a bottle. Consequently the 240-page book is twice the size of previous editions.

Joelle Thomson's Under $20 Wine Guide is undoubtably the best and perhaps the only guide to some of the weird and wonderful international wines currently on the New Zealand market. It is therefore a much needed guide when you consider that well over half the wine sold in New Zealand to the year end June 2002 was imported from overseas. And although Australian wine makes up just over half of the imports there is an increasing amount of cheap and cheerful bottled wine coming in from Italy, Spain and South America, including a host of wines I have not had the opportunity to taste and review.

The book also has a good selection of cheaper New Zealand wines but many of the wines listed will now be hard to find due to a change in vintage. This, unfortunately, is one of the problems for wine guide compilers - there has to be a cut-off point.

Joelle rates wines from 0 to 5-stars, but no wine rated more than 4-stars for her publication this year. I find this a little surprising given some of the terrific 2001 New Zealand sauvignon blanc and riesling wines that were included. Top sauvignon blanc was the Craggy Range Avery Vineyard Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2001 with a 4-star rating. Wine of the Year was 1996 Chivite Gran Fuedi Navarra Reserva (4-stars). Winery of the Year was Bodegas Aragonesas from Spain.

The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2002/2003 (AUD$22.95 paperback) by Huon Hooke and Ralph Kyte-Powell looks extensive in its coverage of Australian wines and there are even a few New Zealand wines interspersed amongst the reviews that are simply categorised into red, white, sparkling or fortified. Wines are rated up to a 5-glass quality and each wine has a suggested food match. There is a good introduction to the principal wine regions of Australia, a summary of the past five vintages region by region, a section on the emergence of screwcaps as a closure, glossaries of wine terms and tasting terms and a winery directory including web addresses. Screwcapped wines are noted in the text by a graphic screwcap-like symbol and wines that have passed the test to allow them to be labelled as 'organically grown and made' have their own little symbol as well.

The authors summarise the 5-glass rated wines with a value for money star rating (1 to 5-stars) and summarise the 148 wines they consider the best wines in the guide that cost $15 or under. The authors are also judges in Australia's Wine List of the Year Awards and the results are reproduced in this wine guide.

A global perspective of the world of wine comes in Jim Budd's Great Wine Tours of the World (NZ$70 hardback). The panoramic photographs make this book stand out as the reader is whisked to the great wine regions of Europe and the New World including Marlborough. This book is my pick for the coffee table. It will give pleasure and spark dreams of holidays to faraway places to everyone, not just wine aficionados.

Find these books at your favourite bookstore.

© Sue Courtney
14 December 2002.