Review of Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux France

[Rjmaloy]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux France" by Michael C. Higgins, PhD.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux, France, Michael C. Higgins provides an extraordinarily in-depth guide to the French city of Bordeaux and its surrounding wine region. Higgins doesn’t focus all his efforts on the wines, however, preferring to first give readers a history of the region starting with how the Pyrenees mountains formed millions of years ago and continuing up through France’s reorganization of its regions in 2016. The book is densely packed with Higgins’ beautiful photography, as well as with information broad enough for those unfamiliar with Bordeaux and yet detailed enough to inform those who’ve already spent time in the region. Personally, I was interested in reading Exploring Wine Regions due to my own trip to Bordeaux a couple years ago; I’m certainly not as much of a wine enthusiast as the author (nor the acclaimed winemaker who wrote the foreword, Dany Rolland) so I was able to take a trip down memory lane while also refreshing the knowledge I gained on the tour I took around a chateau in Blaye.

The organization of the book is fantastic; it’s laid out in such a way as to provide a narrative-like tour through the city and surrounding countryside while also allowing readers to easily jump between specific chateaux if they want to reference those pages later, like on their own trip abroad. While Higgins admits that he could not possibly include every single chateau in Bordeaux (as they number in the hundreds), he does make sure to include a wide selection, chosen not only to provide information on the wines and grapes of the region but also on the people running their businesses. I also really appreciate how much history is included: I’ve known about Eleanor of Aquitaine, for instance, but I’d never thought about how this legendary figure in both French and British history affected the history of wine!

The only negative thing I have to say is that the text is rather small, so it might be difficult to read without some visual assistance (however, it is totally worth it).

I’d rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. A book so carefully crafted as this one deserves all the praise I can give it, as Higgins clearly put a lot of time and effort into this passion project and that passion really comes through in the quality of the book.

Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux, France is perfect for anyone interested in wine; whether you’re an amateur wine drinker like myself or an expert sommelier, this book will certainly have something new and fascinating to offer.

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Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux France
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[Scott]

The only negative thing I have to say is that the text is rather small, so it might be difficult to read without some visual assistance (however, it is totally worth it).

Since you read a digitial PDF, aren't you able to zoom in?

In any case, I believe the text would appear bigger on the actual print book since the actual print book is larger than the typical ereading device.

[aodonnell]

This sounds like it would be a great coffee table book! It might be a good one to keep in mind as a gift for friends that are into wine and/or Bordeaux.

[Rjmaloy]

The only negative thing I have to say is that the text is rather small, so it might be difficult to read without some visual assistance (however, it is totally worth it).

Since you read a digitial PDF, aren't you able to zoom in?

In any case, I believe the text would appear bigger on the actual print book since the actual print book is larger than the typical ereading device.

Yes, you're completely right! I mostly mentioned that in case it was an issue in the print version, since the text seemed to be small relative to the pictures and the rest of the page. Personally, though, I had no trouble zooming in