My husband and I wanted to do some time in "wine country" during our 1 year stay in France. We picked up this book at a local "english language library" and it was great! It really gives a lot of good information about the regions, the wineries, and the traveller's perspective on wine country in general. We've also used it extensively to document our pictures after the fact -- you know how you can forget the names of the 20 chateaux and 12 towns you visited! Well, this book provides enough information to put it back together when you are looking at a picture of a very pretty building which you cannot remember the name of.

It doesn't cover particular wines in detail (mentioning only a few), but for wineries, its a great guide.

The Wine Atlas of France by Hubrecht Duijker (with support from Hugh Johnson) is the best way to start exploring the various famous French wine regions by car. After presentation of the history and a description of a particular wine region, the book lists the address and describes the important wine estates of the region. Suggested routes for driving as well as listings of the top regional restaurants and hotels, in order to recover from the wine tasting. Besides excellent maps of different scales to find your way round the book has superb pictures so that you know what to expect. Alternatively, you may first want to use the book to browse through the various wine regions. Even without using the book as a travel guide it is very useful in locating wines and their vineyards.

This books contains informative descriptions, combined with detailed maps, and beautiful pictures, covering all the major wine producing regions of France. In addition, the author includes his favorite vineyards for each region. This book is a must for anyone travelling to France or just interested in learning more about the wine producing regions of France. Included in each section are a few selections on where to eat and where to stay as well. Having personally taken this book on my most recent trip, I can give it my hearty endorsement.

Having never been to the Alsace region, I cannot personally verify the accuracy of this book's information. However, I can vouch for its tantalizing pull compelling me to make the trip!

This book is well organized and perfectly suited to the reader/traveller who is making a first aquaintance with the Alsace region of France. Though its main focus is introducing the many wines which are produced in this area, I found it to be very informative regarding the history, architecture, and other main attractions of the local cities, towns, and villages. I would definitely recommend it to the everyday traveller as well as the connoisseur interested in a wine touring holiday.

The preface of the book includes a general introduction to the area, its local cuisines, and wine making traditions. Accompanied with many great pictures, the book then reviews numerous towns and villages which are chosen primarily for their wine making appeal. Each town is introduced with a brief historical background and charmingly described in prose that belies the practical layout of the book: "Possibly the most beautiful spot in the Turckheim is the Place Turenne, tucked behind the Port de France gate. If you spend an evening in the village, listen out for the singing night watchman, who continues a centuries-old Turckheim tradition. Each evening at 10 pm, armed with his halberd and lantern, he walks through the streets passing through each of the gates and warns inhabitants to 'watch their hearths and candles'."

The book outlines the local hotels and restaurants in each town, including phone numbers and typical prices of these establishments. It also lists local places of interest, market times, and seasonal wine festivals.

My enthusiasm to visit Alsace has been greatly enhanced by this book. I can almost taste the choucroute and Munster cheese, imagining myself ensconsed in one of the many delightful Alsatian villages.

This book says it all,great maps,beautiful pictures and very good comments on the wine and the winery's The bordeaux bible

When I was planning for a wine trip to the Rhone a few years back, this was one of the many references I used. And it turned out to be the best. For travellers who want to visit the most interesting vineyards, stay at comfortable hotels, eat in excellent hotels, without robbing a bank, don't leave home without checking out this book first!

Since then, I have used books Hugh Johnson and Hubrecht Duijker for other forays to different appellations around the world. And I am still having a whale of a time ...

Hubrecht Duijker knows Loire Valley and its wines better than many of us who live in this beautiful region of France. His knowledge of local treasures goes from hidden villages such as Martigné-Briand to Gérard Depardieu's castle in Tigné or Louis Métaireau and his "vignerons d'art". He will tell you where, in Mouzillon, you can picnic on this splendid small gallo-roman bridge or advise you on "restaurant de la vallée" in Clisson, an impressive place where to enjoy Muscadet wine. The author was appointed "Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole" by the French Government. Just to tell how authorative this "wine lover's touring guide" can be. Whether you plan to visit our region by car, riding a bicycle or a horse, you will love this book... even if you do not like wine that much!

Hugh Johnson has a knack for giving very down to earth descriptions of the small villages, and the various chateaux to visit if you're into wine. He also lets you know the quaint places to stay in hidden away places, and where to stay away from so you can enjoy your experience in the wine country

I am using this book to plan an upcoming trip, so I haven't had a chance to check the book's recommendations, but I have been to this region before.

I have purchased 4 or 5 other books to research the Loire Valley and this is the most useful. It doesn't contain much information about the chateaux in the region (generally repeated in all the other books). What it does have is some really useful photographs that help to give a sense of what the different towns are like, detailed and nuanced recommendations of places to stay and places to eat, and a guide to a few hundred or so vineyards.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone at all interested in wine, who also wants information about some of the towns and villages too small to end up in the regular tourist guides.

While I would not use this as my sole guide to the area, if you are truly interested in the WINES, it provides much needed maps and information. I, unfortunately, did not find this book unitl the last day of my visit to Bordeaux (in the very large bookstore in the center of the pedestrian zone downtown.) I will be seeking the other books in the series -- Burgundy, Loire, Germany...

It makes for easy reading and whets the appetite to go on a wine tasting trip. We were intending on a golfing trip but ended up making sure we visited some of the wine growers.

We used this handy guide for two weeks as we toured Provence, tasting our way through 20+ wineries from Les Baux to Cotes du Luberon. This book provided a terrific education on the wines of the area, some great restraunt tips and most importantly ...how to find the vineyards! We used the companion Touring Rhone Wine Country as well. This is a well written and visually appealing book....certainly makes you want to stop at every opportunity. We found that we agreed with the writers recommendations almost without exception. The only area of needed improvement is in the directions to the vineyards and the detail of the maps. We sometimes had difficulty finding the recommended wineries. If one speaks French, the given addresses might be enough....but for those of us who don't...more detailed directions please. Also add winery websites...they are becoming more common.

First, for Amazon.com: The publisher of record is Octopus Books, Ltd. under the Mitchell Beazley marque. I suspect that the US licensee is Simon & Schuster, Inc., since they are the US publisher of other Mitchell Beazley titles on wine in the US. (I purchased my edition from Amazon.co.uk.)

This book is the best tour of the Chilean wine industry and labels yet available. With the superb value found in the last several years of vintage Cab and Merlot from top houses, and the major improvements in top-line products resulting from investments by French(Marnier & Rothschild) and Californian vintners (Robert Mondavi and Kendall-Jackson) in Chile, this book is an essential reference for anyone seeking top value for price. The author is Dutch, with strong appreciation for wine, the people and the industry. He knows wine, writes clearly and concisely. His vignettes are brief, I found myself wanting to learn more... Only larger houses are covered, a shame.

I am a professional in the field of wine and food consulting and a former staffer of Cuisine magazine, in New York. After reading through "Touring in Wine Country: Burgundy" by Hubrecht Duijker et al, I feel the book provides a broad understanding of Burgundy wines, but is lacking in several specific areas. For example, in its restaurant and winery suggestions it does not include the address, hours, or credit cards taken. Only the telephone numbers are listed. This would require that you carry around a European cell phone to call ahead to get directions and information, or that you have time to stop and find pay phones while traveling. The writers also assume that you are sufficiently fluent in French to communicate with prorietors to get all the information you need. This, in my opinion, is a serious flaw in the book. Moreover, the vineyard and restaurant recommendatons are written in very small type along the margins of the book - like mouse print. The maps are very general and would not suffice in and of themselves - to get you where you're going. Another book, Fodor's Rivages - Wines and Vineyards of Character and Charm in France, I feel, does a better job on the maps and recommendations-- all have addresses, hours, credit card information, etc. And each winery has a page description so you know beforehand if you want to visit and what the days/hours are. Each winery has a number that corresponds to a location on a map- which is fairly detailed, so you can easily find it.

This book covers all areas of bungundy in ways it seems only an expect could do - and sometimes understand. All possible areas of interest, known and little known, are listed. The many area/city regional maps are very clean and helpful. The only thing to possibly change is the blow by blow listing of what highway to take where, when to turn right/left, etc. That tends to make the book drag. Overall, definitly worth purchasing if you want to get started in Burgundy or need a driving guide of who does what and where they do it. (If you do use this as a driving guide, don't bother getting a Michelin guide unless you are going outside the appelation.) Makes you want to drink a glass for every word printed.