My Kind of Wine

Overview

John Platter returns! With the same simple approach to wine which made him a household name in South Africa, he tells the stories of wines and winemakers; taste the wines himself; writes about them in language everyone can understand. • 261 wines, chosen, personally tasted and described by John Platter • Backstories, amusing anecdotes, profiles of the wines and winemakers • New areas, new stars, new wineries, new experiences for wine drinkers • The wine-wars – the revolutionaries, the young guns and the new-old guard • Introductions to varieties and blends • Easy explanations of wine terms which befuddle everyday drinkers • Wine-friendly recipes from winemakers and top wine country chefs

Reviews

"He had me with the second sentence of the Author's Notes: 'I have attempted to moderate the levels of gush . . .' I love you, John Platter. Not because you moderate the gush, although I applaud that (as someone who battles with the same problem), but because you want to gush. There is a trend, these days, for much criticism to be levelled at wine writers who write with immoderate enthusiasm. Raving about a wine is très déclassé. You are very cool indeed if you critique with an insouciant shrug, and when the highest praise from your pen is 'interesting'. I'm not promoting abject adoration for every bottle of wine, but reserve can run very close to indifference, and there are times when I find subjective enthusiasm as refreshing as a vin de soif. Sod sophistication. (Perhaps I can say that because I'm African, très très déclassé, and biased.) He had me, again, when he confessed that 'this is not a systematic - much less comprehensive - tour of the wine lands. It's a ramble.' So, kick off your shoes and lay down your notepad, pour a glass of wine, put one hand against the wall to brace yourself for the emotion, and open this book." —Tamlyn Currin, wine critic, journalist

Author Biography

John Platter came to South Africa as a foreign correspondent, bureau chief for UPI, in the late 1970s. The Rand Daily Mail wine column he began after leaving fulltime journalism to farm in Franschhoek expanded into an annual wine guide which he and his wife Erica wrote and selfpublished. It was an instant success. Sold by the Platters after 20 years, it remains a best-seller. Their travel-wine-adventure story Africa Uncorked won numerous international laurels including the UK's most prestigious Glenfiddich Award.