BOOK REVIEW: Champagne – A Secret History by Robert Walters

BOOK REVIEW: Champagne – A Secret History by Robert Walters

Allen & Unwin
November 2017
Paperback, $32.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Wine
8.5 /10

With his background growing grapes, trading in and writing about wine over the past twenty-five years, Robert Walters has built strong relationships with many artisanal wine producers around the world, and this has uniquely placed him in the position to delve deep into a fascinating history of Champagne – the wine, the region, and the myths surrounding them.

Those myths, Walters claims, have been foisted upon an unsuspecting world by the mass producers of the wine we most often call ‘bubbles’, but here he visits a handful of smaller producers who explain their processes, their philosophies, their own histories, and as we journey through this beautiful and important part of France we learn a lot which makes us wonder if we’ve had it wrong this whole time.

Like anything, the mass produced and the gourmet are radically different beasts, and whilst he succeeds in showing us what we SHOULD be looking for in a fine champagne, Walters never puts us off enjoying a tipple of the cheap stuff, merely opens our eyes to an underground world we barely knew existed.

It’s a wonderful, entertaining and eye-opening read, best enjoyed with a glass of the good stuff within arm’s reach.

Category: Book Reviews