The Sommelier's Atlas of Taste

A Field Guide to the Great Wines of Europe

By: Rajat Parr, Jordan Mackay

Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan

Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the prestigious André Simon Drink Book Award

The first definitive reference book to describe, region-by-region, how the great wines of Europe should taste. This will be the go-to guide for aspiring sommeliers, wine aficionados who want to improve their blind tasting skills, and amateur enthusiasts looking for a straightforward and visceral way to understand and describe wine.

In this seminal addition to the wine canon, noted experts Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay share everything they've learned in their decades of tasting wine. The result is the most in-depth study of the world's greatest wine regions ever published. There are books that describe the geography of wine regions. And there are books that describe the way basic wines and grapes should taste. But there are no books that describe the intricacies of the way wines from various subregions, soils, and appellations should taste. Now, for the first time ever, you can learn about the differences between wines from the seven grand crus and 40 premier crus of Chablis, or the terroirs in Barolo, Champagne, and Bordeaux. Paying attention to styles, winemakers, soils, and the most cutting-edge of trends, this book explains how to understand the wines of the world not in the classical way, but in the modern way - appellation by appellation, soil by soil, technique by technique - making it an essential reference and instant classic.

©2021 Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Best Wine Books of 2018 - New York Times

"This is the sort of thought-provoking book that I will return to again and again." (Eric Asimov, New York Times) 

“It isn't easy to produce fresh insights and fascinating commentary on some of the most well-trampled wine regions on earth, but sommelier-turned-wine producer Rajat Parr and writer Jordan Mackay have managed to do just that, and to do so with style; I expect this book to find its way on to the shelves of wine drinkers and collectors as well as those of aspiring sommeliers.” (Victoria Moore, André Simon Awards assessor) 

"This book is both the wine novice's and expert's dream, packed full of everything you need to know about the word's best wine. Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay break down what makes each one special and unique, and what to look for when it comes to awakening your palate. All that's left to do is open a bottle you've never tried before and explore the possibilities." (Ayesha Curry, author of the best-selling cookbook The Seasoned Life)

Stab my Eardrums, bless PJ's heart

The content is fascinating stuff. From a cert sommelier & studying standpoint, I Wanted to listen. Narrator sounds robotic, aggressive, bullet after bullet in the ears, I had to give up.

Bad Narration

I agree with the prevailing opinions here, great content, awful narration. Totally ruins the information.

Annoying Narrator

Agree with previous poster. Content great but had to force myself through it bc narrator so annoying to listen to. His tone does not match the content.

Good info, but a little pompous

I'll start by saying that Raj is a great taster and well respected in the industry on the somm and service side. My problem with this book is that it comes off pompous and Francophillic. If this was the only book that you listened to about wine, you'd think that France is the only country "worthy" of growing grapes. Yes, France has a long winemaking history, but that doesn't mean that their wines are superior.

With that being said, the profiles on the regions are well done, in depth, and do a good job at showing the reader the winemaking styles. The "watch out" here is that there is a lot of opinions that are not based in science. For example, they act like natural winemaking and organic farming is the only way to make terroir driven wines. This is untrue for many reasons and perpetuates the unscientific approach to wines. in addition, the soil associations to wine quality are completely unsubstantiated by science. It is more pomp and marketing from the luxury brands.

In summary, its a book that will get you thinking about wine. And the approach to tasting described in the early chapters is great. Just make sure that you don't use this as the gospel and do your own research to supplement their data.

Great modern take

This is a great modern take on popular wine and hidden gems right now. Definitely worth a listen and very informative. However, the narrator’s voice sounds like a game show host and eventually begins to grate.

lectura de referencia

es un libro bastante técnico que puede llegar a cansar. si estás buscando aprender de vino, este no es el material indicado. es un material más de referencia y creo que es más práctico tener el libro físico

Great information hidden pomp and pretense

Really good information through a lens of pretension. Huge inaccurate generalizations of sommeliers. But under a lot of nonsense there is truly a great deal of useful information

Great book, awful narration

I’m a winemaker and wanted to learn some things from this book. It was difficult to listen to due to the narrator.

Annoying..

Great information, but the narrators voice is unbearable… I find it almost impossible to finish this book because I can’t stand to listen to the guy reading it. I should have just bought a hard copy instead

Terrible narrator

Love the content but couldn’t get through it due to the narrator. He ruined a great book