Jan Read

I was mainly interested in the wine of Portugal, so began this read at the second half of Jan's book. Written in the 1970s it provides an interesting account of demarcated regional wine production at that time, although Jan also gives a fascinating account of Portuguese wine history through the medieval ages and beyond. He writes with a science of the subject of wine making (and drinking) that I personally found illuminating, and the book has an easy reading balance of technical, historical and opinion based writing. It was written in a time when there were less medical and health stigma surrounding the consumption of alcohol, so Jan writes from the perspective of taking wine as a pleasurable everyday activity - and is still relevant from my own experience in parts of Portugal where during a long lunch it would not be unusual to consume a bottle of wine. It's not only table wines he writes about, Jan covers fortified wine also, and if you are interested in this subject I would recommend it as a starting point to further reading on texts Jan mentions through-out which have hopefully been translated since then from the Portuguese.… (more)