Stephan Reinhardt, The Finest Wines of Germany
(This is an announcement. You can find the review of the book here.)
This is what I received in the mail yesterday. I cannot tell you how excited I am. It is the first book on German wine written in English in quite a while. I first stumbled across it in the summer, when I saw a facebook friend liking the page “The Finest Wines of Germany”. I was puzzled, because I definitely recognized the motive on the cover: It is my hometown Nackenheim’s church steeple, with vineyards in front of it. I actually grew up with this sight!! I know what these church bells sounds like. I have played with the red soil under the vines. How awesome is that??!! I actually know the exact spot it was taken from, because returning from a hike in the vineyards, this is what I see…
Imagine my disappointment when I realized that this cover is only on the UK version of the book, while the American version has a rather generic wine harvest on it. Plus, the American cover in general really looks worse (the black does not really help it), while the white on the UK version looks way more sophisticated (call me biased, whatever).
See what I mean?
The American cover
But when I checked prices at www.amazon.com and www.amazon.co.uk (the links will take you straight to the book’s detail page), I also realized that the book was cheaper in the UK than in the US. That sealed the deal for me. I asked friends in London whether I could have the book shipped to them, which they agreed to, and then they shipped it on to me…and here I am, feeling like a boy at Christmas eve (in Germany, we get our presents on Christmas eve, not in the morning on Christmas day). I will write a proper review shortly, but I just had to share this with you. If you love German wines, consider this investment…Europeans: You can get it for £10 at Amazon.co.uk right now, which is half off!
Btw, this is the church in full…I have many more featuring it, but this was the first I was able to find:
My home town’s church
the winegetter 