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Wine Books: Oz Clarke

A prolific and experienced author with an innate skill for communication.

Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book 2006
Oz Clarke
Available from Amazon
0-3167-3057-2

Oz Clarke’s Wine Buying Guide 2006
Oz Clarke
Available from Amazon
0-3167-3058-0

It's that time of year again; the Oz Clarke Pocket Wine Book 2006 has arrived on the shelves. Unlike Tom Stevenson's Wine Report, Oz's book has a different purpose and, I suspect, a different target audience. It's essentially a regularly updated pocket dictionary, covering wines, wine regions, producers (the bulk of the book) and grapes. It's accompanied, as ever, by a brief vintage chart and a quick vintage report, documenting the ups and downs of the 2004 vintage across the world. No region is covered in depth, and as such the writing tends to scrape the surface, with all but the most important producers excluded; so whereas this makes an ideal guide for those with an uncertain knowledge, perhaps just starting down the winding road that is the appreciation of wine, those with more knowledge may prefer to look elsewhere. An example is Chinon; Couly-Dutheil is the only producer included in the guide (and is the Clos de l'Echo really only worthy of one star?). Look for any detail on the likes of Bernard Baudry, Charles Joguet or Olga Raffault and you will have a fruitless search on your hands. What is covered, however, is explained succinctly and yet clearly; as I've said before, Oz Clarke is an excellent communicator, and this attribute shines through in this regularly published guide.

Having put down my pocket guide, I can't resist browsing Oz's 2006 Wine Buying Guide, which is often packaged with the Wine Book in a clear plastic wallet, to see what Oz fancies drinking this year. I think for those that want to be guided to a surefire good buy every time, and for those who shop to a price point, this little guide is a real winner. Tim Adams features strongly, as he did last year, but there's much more to the guide than that. Choose from Oz's top twenty wine buys, or from top buys in a variety of price brackets; under £5, £5-7, £7-10, and there's even an under £4 category! Oz's advice on top fizz, top claret, buying, tasting, cellaring and more means there's plenty to keep the wine buyer in need of a little assistance fully informed. In combination, these two books, which are as always very keenly priced, would make a worthwhile buy for many wine drinkers.

Oz Clarke’s Australian Wine Companion
Oz Clarke
Available from Amazon
0-3167-2874-8 0316728748

Specialisation is good. As things stand at the dawn of the 21st Century, there is simply too much knowledge available for an individual to know everything (the same could actually be said at the dawn of the 20th Century). That's why we have specialisation; chemists, physicists and astronomers rather than generic scientists; haematologists, bacteriologists and neonatologists rather than generic physicians. Wine writers with any common sense pay good attention to this; the world of wine is now a very big world indeed, no longer confined to a few classic European regions. To do a good, thorough job, and to have a truly detailed knowledge, you have to specialise. The appropriately named Oz Clarke (a name gained thanks to his early predilection for Oz wine) has, in this text, done just that; this slim but informative guide is a readable journey through all wine Australian. Opening with a few pages on history, grape varieties, vineyard and winery management, Oz then goes on to profile the main estates of South Australia through to Queensland. The profiles are classic Clarke; brief but informative, well written, reflecting a personal experience and knowledge of the wines. Oz as always gives recommended vintages for each winery, but more detail on vintages can be found in an in-depth guide near the back. Colourful, well presented, with some stunning photography, I think this book is a worthwhile purchase for anyone with a developing interest in Australian wine.

Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book 2005
Oz Clarke
Available from Amazon, but superseded by the above
0-3167-2783-0

Oz Clarke now seems to be taking the crown of king of the annual pocket guides – his pocket wine book seems ubiquitous, displacing old favourites such as Hugh Johnson and Michael Broadbent, both of whom have held this title in the past I think. Clarke’s annual guide is standard fayre; an A to Z of notable producers and regions. As with all such annual guides the main restriction is space; only the crème de la crème are allowed in. Look for anything other than the top or otherwise noteworthy producers and you are likely to be disappointed. But the guide is still useful when dealing with unfamiliar territory, where even the leading names are unfamiliar. The guide opens with regional summaries including 2003 vintage reports (shouldn’t we be talking about the 2004 vintage by now?) and other fillers on matching food and wine, and the like. And for those looking for specific UK buying advice the book is accompanied by Oz’s 2005 Wine Buying Guide, all packaged in a neat wallet. I must admit I like this latter, slim little guide. Although Oz tends to beat the same drum every year, for instance recommending what seems like every wine ever produced by Tim Adams, this must be a very reassuring companion for those with no wine confidence who want to avoid purchasing a duff bottle. Good value for money for sure.

Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Book 2004
Oz Clarke
Available from Amazon, but superseded by the above
0-3167-2577-3

The latest addition to Clarke's now massive portfolio of books is the newly updated release of his popular annual guide book. It follows the usual format, combining some introductory pages on matching food and wine (and interestingly matching wine and food - for those who let the wine dictate the meal) for instance, and a quick rundown of the world's wine producing countries (complete with 2002 vintage report for each) with a full A-Z of wines, producers and regions. A sort of year-book and reference standard all in one. I particularly like Clarke's vintage charts, which are very easy to find within front and back covers. They avoid the usual weakness - which is a generalised score for huge wine regions - with subdivisions, eg. the Loire is divided into Bourgueil/Chinon, Sancerre and sweet wines. Whereas the recent vintages reside within the front cover, at the back can be found an older chart, dating back (looking at only selected vintages) to 1961. I like the colour scheme too - mauve highlights to the black text which stand out but are still easy on the eye.

In addition, those looking for a little more guidance will be glad to know that accompanying the Pocket Wine Book is Oz Clarke's Wine Buying Guide 2004. A slim, 128 page booklet slipped in the back of the Pocket Book's wallet, this book provides us with a list of Clarke's top buys for the forthcoming year. Having looked through his choices, I don't have any strong disagreements. Altogether this is a bargain at the reduced Amazon price, and a perfect stocking filler!

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