Potion Collector's Recommended Wine Books
Potion Collector’s Recommended Wine Books
Reading and drinking wine go together beautifully. All of these books are worth owning. I’ve marked my indispensable, accessible picks with 🧙♂️.
These are Amazon affiliate links.
Start Here: The Three Pillars
If you only buy three wine books, buy these. They’re the shortest path to real wine confidence—without making wine feel like homework.
Adventures on the Wine Route (25th Anniversary) — Kermit Lynch 🧙♂️
The book I recommend more than any other. Not because it teaches wine—but because it teaches why wine matters. If wine still feels abstract, start here.
Wine & War — Don & Petie Kladstrup 🧙♂️
The best explanation I know for why certain bottles, places, and names still carry weight today. It reads like a story, but it quietly rewires your sense of what wine is.
The Story of Wine — Hugh Johnson 🧙♂️
The most humane, readable overview of wine I’ve found. Not technical. Not intimidating. Just the big picture—clearly told.
If you read these three, you already know more about wine than most people who claim to love it.
Do You Want to Really Fall in Love With Wine?
- The Sommelier’s Atlas of Taste — Rajat Parr & Jordan MacKay
- Adventures on the Wine Route (25th Anniversary) — Kermit Lynch 🧙♂️
- Authentic Wine — Jamie Goode
- Who’s Afraid of Romanée-Conti — Dan Keeling
Do You Want a Toolkit of Great Quick References?
- What to Drink with What You Eat — Dornenburg & Page
- The New Wine Rules — Jon Bonne
- The Wine Bible — Karen MacNeil 🧙♂️
Do You Want to Really Understand the World of Wine?
This section is mostly reference. You don’t need to read these straight through. Pick the region—or question—that obsesses you.
- The World Atlas of Wine — Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson 🧙♂️
- The Oxford Companion to Wine — Jancis Robinson
- Wine Grapes — Jancis Robinson
- Native Wine Grapes of Italy — Ian d’Agata 🧙♂️
- Rhone Renaissance — Remington Norman
- The New French Wine (2-book set) — Jon Bonne
- The Science of Wine — Jamie Goode
- Napa Valley Then & Now — Kelli White (out of print; can be pricey but invaluable)
- Champagne (Boxed Book & Map Set) — Peter Liem 🧙♂️
- Sherry, Manzanilla & Montilla — Peter Liem (out of print)
- Barolo and Barbaresco — Kerin O’Keefe
- Brunello di Montalcino — Kerin O’Keefe
- Inside Bordeaux — Jane Anson 🧙♂️
- Inside Burgundy — Jasper Morris MW 🧙♂️
- Jura Wine 10 Years On — Wink Lorch
Do You Want Great Wine Writing for Reading At The Beach?
- The Story of Wine — Hugh Johnson 🧙♂️
- Wine & War — Don & Petie Kladstrup 🧙♂️
- Champagne — Don & Petie Kladstrup
- Reading Between The Wines — Terry Theise
- What Makes a Wine Worth Drinking — Terry Theise
- The Billionaire’s Vinegar — Benjamin Wallace
- The Heartbreak Grape — Marq de Villiers
- Cork Dork — Bianca Bosker
- Reflections of a Wine Merchant — Neal Rosenthal
- A Really Big Lunch — Jim Harrison
- Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey — Robert Camuto
- South of Somewhere — Robert Camuto
- Untrodden Grapes — Ralph Steadman 🧙♂️
- The Accidental Connoisseur — Lawrence Osborne
Do You Want to See Contemporary Wine Writing?
- One Thousand Vines — Pascaline Lepeltier
- The Wines of California — Elaine Chukan Brown
- The Drops of God Vol. 1 — Tadashi Agi / Shu Okimoto
- The Drops of God Vol. 2 — Tadashi Agi / Shu Okimoto
Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase—at no extra cost to you. I only recommend books I genuinely think are worth owning.
Last updated: February 2026