Sauternes and Other Sweet Wines of Bordeaux Paperback – January 1, 1995

A terrific book about the Sauternes region and it's wines. Information is becoming dated because the book was published a quarter century ago. Still has a lot of useful info about the producers and the wines style each estate produces. Stephen Brook has a very approachable and easy to understand writing style. And books on Sauternes are scarce as consumers now shun the product.

The cool thing about books is that it gives you a look back into history and an opportunity to compare to the progression of time, which is key in the wine industry.

This is a fantastic book, which I have read cover to cover. It covers Sauternes, its history, the 1855 rankings, the author's rankings based on quality of wine, and a large writeup for every Chautea of worth in the region explaining the history, the wine making methods, and good and bad vintages. This book is by far the best out there, and my professor at Purdue who taught a Wine Appreciation class (Dr. Richard Vine) told me it was the best in his opinion too. Of particular interest is the history of d'Yquem which the author painstakingly covers. He also devotes a huge chapter to the winemaking methods of Sauternes (by Sauternes, I mean Barsac, Sauternes, Bommes, Preignac, etc). He explains picking methods, chapitilzation (spelling?),etc. I almost always consult this book before making a Sauternes purchase. Disappointingly, I would say only about half the time is the vintage I'm looking at covered in the book. Also, he doesn't go much beyond 1994. However, this is still the best book you can get. You WON'T be disappointed.