Academie du Vin Library

12/09/2026

It’s here! The first advance copy of Barolo & Barbaresco by has just arrived. We are delighted with how it looks and can’t wait to share it with you this autumn.

Pre-order your copy now. Link in our bio.
Publishing 1 October.

09/09/2026

‘As with many words that resist translation, “terroir” has a habit of meaning very different things to different people. While its semantic vagaries are at least familiar ground in the wine world, the vigorous distillation process and pursuit of consistency in whisky-making mean the complexities of natural environment often play second fiddle to other influences such as cask maturation.’

Anna Larkin explores the relationship between whisky and terroir in this new Vinosity article, looking beyond the cask to consider how soil, climate, grain and place can influence the character of whisky.

Read the full article at academieduvinlibrary.com.

07/09/2026

“There is a local saying that the best wines come from the vineyards ‘where you can hear the crabs sing’.”

On Pico, in the middle of the Atlantic, historic vineyards protected by distinctive stone-walled enclosures have made a remarkable recovery from near-extinction.

In this extract from the newly published second edition of The Wines of Portugal, Richard Mayson explores the history and revival of this Azorean wine landscape.

In the second edition of The wines of Portugal, Richard Mayson explores the recovery of the vineyards on the largest island of the Azores, Pico

03/09/2026

Barolo & Barbaresco by David Gleave is now available for pre-order at academieduvinlibrary.com

David Gleave tells the remarkable story of Barolo and Barbaresco and their emergence from the misty hills of Italy's Langhe region in the southern reaches of Piemonte. Drawing on four decades of importing, interviewing and deepening friendships, he traces the social, cultural and winemaking challenges that have reshaped this land and the transformation of these wines into two of the most desirable in the world.

Publishing 1st October (UK) and 1st November (US)



Pre-order at academieduvinlibrary.com

29/08/2026

Say wildfires, and you might think of Australia, or the scrubby, sun-bleached hills of California, not the verdant British countryside. But after a summer of relentless heatwaves that saw 62 days without rain, the threat of fire has become a distressing reality for many parts of the UK, from the Cairngorms to the New Forest. Across the English Channel, an August wildfire four times the size of Paris menaced the world-famous Bordeaux vineyards: now British winemakers must consider a similar threat.

Read the full article
https://academieduvinlibrary.com/blogs/vinosity/wildfires-uk-wine-producers-consider-risk-of-smoke-taint

Words by Rachel Goodrich-Jones

Photo credit: Blabers Hall Wine Estate

28/08/2026

A huge thank you to Tamlyn Currin at JancisRobinson.com for this wonderful review of Pressing Matters by Alan Ramey!

Pressing Matters is available for purchase now at academieduvinlibrary.com

27/08/2026

We were delighted to be back at TEXSOM for the third year. We caught up with our authors Sarah Jane Evans MW and Jim Clarke, along with many other authors, and had a fantastic time bringing our books to the TEXSOM community. Thank you to everyone who came to see us!

18/08/2026

Académie du Vin Library are delighted to attend the 2026 TEXSOM Conference!

We'll be selling our books at special prices, so come and find our table and dive into the world of wine knowledge.

14/08/2026

Alan Ramey explores some of the big questions around terroir: how much of a wine’s character comes from the soil beneath the vines? How much is shaped by climate, weather and sunshine? And what other factors play a role?

Find out more in Pressing Matters by Alan Ramey available at academieduvinlibrary.com

10/08/2026

Switzerland is one of the most interesting of the world’s wine regions – small, steep and highly productive, its wine is little known by any but aficionados.

https://academieduvinlibrary.com/blogs/vinosity/swiss-pinot-noir-who-knew

Vinosity’s latest article, by Adam Lechmere, offers an insider’s guide to some of Switzerland’s finest Pinot Noirs, alongside an introduction to this fascinating wine region.

‘Pinot Noir makes up a quarter of the entire Swiss vineyard – the greatest concentration of that variety of all wine countries of the world. By contrast, it’s grown in 15 percent of vineyards in the United States, 13 percent in New Zealand, and four percent in France.

Of course such statistics are all relative. Switzerland might be a dedicated Pinot Noir producer but with just over 3,500ha of Pinot vineyards it’s only the eighth largest producer of the variety. In total it has 15,000ha of vineyard (the same size as Alsace). Pinot is its most-planted grape.‘