"wine books" news and stories

On Monday we kicked off our 12 days of chef-inspired gift giving. Stay tuned every morning from now through December 24th for ideas from the pros on the best gifts for cooks. And see the links at the bottom of the post to catch up.

Chef: Wolfgang Puck

Restaurants: WP24, Spago and CUT (Los Angeles, CA); Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group

The Gift: One of my favorite gifts to give is Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide by Robert M. Parker, Jr. He is an outstanding wine authority and I like this book because it inspires me. It makes a great gift because people can see the relationship between the wine and the food and it also educates them about all the wonderful varieties out there.

Where to Find It: Available at most bookstores and online.

• A range of wine tomes to gift to those smitten with the inebriant, from the fictional story of a "Vintage Caper" to "When the Rivers Ran Red," the history of Prohibition in California.
• One Southern California writer speaks fondly of their eclectic holiday feast, which she lovingly likens to gathering the United Nations to table, in "the latest chapter of a colorful and tasty family history."
• A promising new establishment in Hollywood, Orale offers traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex fare, as well as unique dishes like tortilla paninis -- and encourages readers to polish the meal off with some sweet churros.
• Though the holiday reference is an enigma, Christmas Salad would pair well with your holiday meat of choice, with a vibrant, fruity base of oranges, beets and the fresh crunch of jicama.
• "Sneered at by aficionados and loved by just about everyone else," low-cost and debatably low-quality wines are nonetheless the quaff of choice for the American masses -- but can be enjoyed by connoisseurs and the general public alike in delicious, saving-grace cocktails.

Australia's best selling wine book - the annual Australian Wine Companion - has won the prestigious 2005 Saltram Australian Wine Communicator Award. The award means the author James Halliday picks up AUS$11,000 (£4,500).

The guide lists and profiles over 2,000 different wineries and supplies tasting notes on 4,500 wines. Halliday has written or co-authored more than 60 wine books since 1979, and won many awards, including Decanter Book of the Year, the André Simon Book Award and the James Beard Award.

The book is listed on Amazon.com for $12.97 and on Amazon.co.uk for £10.31 The latest version will soon be published.

A Wine Miscellany by Graham Harding

This is a delightful little book packed full of snippets concerning wine and champagne. Across the 170 odd pages is a collection of historical facts, cultural references and the lore of wine making. Such is the breadth of the subject even wine experts are bound to discover some unknown  fact.

Inside you will find that the world's largest wine bottle is a Maximus standing 1.35 metres tall or that the stars on cognac bottles date from the comet vintage of 1811. Want to know how toasts began? or whose skull Byron made into a goblet? It is all here.

Without being derogatory it is what we call a toilet book - something to dip in to rather than engage in a lengthy read. But it's great especially as it costs just £9.99 (although amazon.co.uk has it listed at £5.99)/US$19.75.