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  Wine-mine review - April 2002
Digging up great ideas for wine lovers...
This month we reviewed a book: The Colour of Wine
 Many of the books published about wine are text-driven, concentrating on transmitting hard facts or anecdote as the means of communicating the author's passion, with illustrations present only to support the words. Therefore it is refreshing to find a "coffee-table" glossy which, in its own way, has just as much to say about the grape through the medium of photography.
English-born, Australian-trained Kevin Judd already had a successful career as a winemaker (part of the team that brought Cloudy Bay to the world's attention) before he took up the camera seriously and pointed his lens at the vines in his adopted homeland. From delicate close-ups of bud burst and ripe fruit to the broad landscapes of the Wairau Valley's many vineyards, Judd's pictures convey the transformation of the vines throughout the seasons. Marlborough appears in all its glory, with mountain ranges, and gravelly riverbed soil a feature (there's even an obligatory sheep or two), and the book provides the ideal virtual tour of arguably New Zealand's most important wine region.
The written word is not dispensed with entirely: each season is introduced with a brief commentary from Judd. Distinguished New Zealand wine writer Michael Cooper also presents an informative introduction to the book, which covers Marlborough's vinous history and then looks to the future. Anybody interested in discovering this area would be hard pressed to find out more from a plethora of other sources; the only thing missing is the opportunity to taste some wine!
However it is really left to the pictures to do the talking, and this they do in a sumptuous visual feast. It would be wrong to dismiss them as arthouse eye-candy, because any reader who looks closely enough will learn plenty about the vine. On the other hand, if you would simply like to be transported to the other side of the world but can't bear the thought of a long, costly plane journey, this book is the perfect way to get there.
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| Title: |
The Colour of Wine: photographs from the vineyards of Marlborough, New Zealand |
| Author: |
Kevin Judd |
| Price: |
£19.95 at Kiwi Fruits, Royal Opera Arcade, London SW1Y
Tel. 020 7930 4587
www.kiwifruitsnzshop.com |
| Type: |
book |
| ISBN: |
0908802536 |
| Publisher: |
Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, NZ, 1999 |
| Rated: |
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See some more great reviews from over the past few months...
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