1001 WINES YOU MUST TRY BEFORE YOU DIE
Neil Beckett – Penguin - $50.00

Well I have counted them and I still have almost 900 left to try so I may have left my run a little late!
What a gorgeous book, (understatement), with truly brilliant full colour photographs at every opening. (Sorry about the colour on the cover image, it is meant to be a rich burgundy red!)

This is a book that I am going to pick up often and browse for an hour or so and then put back on the shelf. For purposes of this review I have not read every page (there are almost thousand after all!) but I have browsed the entire book in order to count the wines I have tried. There are 25 New Zealand wineries and I am pleased to say that I have tried all of them. I am especially pleased that my two favourite Chardonnays are both featured – Kumeu River Mates Chardonnay and Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay. A surprising number of the NZ wines selected are red wines with the whites showing up mainly, unsurprisingly, with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Although edited by English wine judge/journalist Neil Beckett there are over 40 other contributors from around the world. The NZ selections and comments are made by wine writer Bob Campbell MW.
Among the NZ wineries are Kumeu River, Goldwater, Stony ridge, Felton Road, Mount Difficulty, Millton, Craggy Range, Cloudy Bay, Seresin, Dry River, Ata Rangi and Neudorf.
This book needs to be on the shelf of all serious wine buffs. It is a gem.

For the record the other subjects covered in this 1001 series include: Books, Buildings, Gardens, Paintings, Historic Sites, Natural Wonders, Classical Recordings.
They represent a wonderful concept, brilliantly executed.