America’s massive, bestselling wine book has a new edition, 4 years in the making

After a meticulous revision that took author Karen MacNeil more than four years, the new edition of The Wine Bible has just arrived on shelves, and it’s clearly the author’s most precise, in-depth version yet.

Selling more than 800,000 copies since its first release in 2000, The Wine Bible is the bestselling wine book in America and considered required reading for both new and seasoned wine lovers.

At more than 700 pages, the third edition (Workman Publishing, 2022, $39.99) is filled to the brim information on every major wine region in the world, from the United States, France and Italy, to lesser-known locales like China, Great Britain and Israel. There’s a grape glossary, wine dictionary, food and wine pairing guide, and a plethora of facts, tips, history lessons and engaging essays.

Stickler for accuracy

MacNeil, an acclaimed wine writer, educator and Emmy-winning television host, enlisted a team of researchers to help her complete the book’s latest edition. Many were students studying for professional wine certifications, like the Wine & Spirits Education Trust.

“I am very persnickety about facts,” said MacNeil, who lives in Napa. “The students knew I would make them delve deep into their assigned subjects, so many chose topics they were unfamiliar with to expand their knowledge. Sometimes, they would have up to 10 facts to research in a single paragraph.”

Instead of editing the book in order, MacNeil tackled each chapter according to personal interest or a subject’s complexity, with nearly every section undergoing 30-40 iterations. This time, she began with Oregon, a region she said has made “great strides” since The Wine Bible’s previous edition.

“I have been so impressed by Oregon wine,” MacNeil said. “It is one of the regions that has changed the most. It was a nice, meaty chapter to edit — not like Germany, for example. I taught myself early on to not leave Germany, Italy or Portugal until the end … bThe wines are delicious, but they’re chaotic regions to research.”

Which Neolithic period?

Along with new chapters on the wines of Great Britain, Israel and China, the book also features a new section on Wine in the Ancient World, which MacNeil said was the most challenging to write.

“During my research, I found some of the language very hard to understand because scientists often use multiple ways to state a time period,” MacNeil said. “One person might say, ‘5,000 years ago,’ while someone else might say ‘3000 BC.’ I had to do a lot of math to keep things straight.”

While she was able to determine the Neolithic period as one of the most revolutionary in wine (and human) history, it wasn’t until she dove deep into her research that she learned the historic period — and the introduction of wine — occurred at different times in China, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

“That was very confusing and really complicated things,” MacNeil said. “The chapter on Ancient Wines is short, but I believe it’s one of my best because I did so much work on it.”

Not-so cut and dried

While writing the previous edition, MacNeil recalls the section on Vouvray was particularly difficult. Produced with the white chenin blanc grape in France’s Loire valley, Vouvray can range greatly in style from dry to off-dry (sweet) and be a still wine or sparkling.

“It was nearly impossible to determine the rules for labeling sweetness level,” MacNeil said. “The Loire Valley’s PR department told me one thing, the wine producers told me something else, then the Vouvray Consortium told me something completely different. I kept hounding them to figure it out.”

As a result of MacNeil’s pestering, the Vouvray Consortium, a group responsible for maintaining the wine’s standards, eventually met with Loire winemakers to develop a standardized method for listing sweetness level on wine labels. The method became standard practice for Vouvray producers and is still in use today.

‘What makes great wine great?’

As MacNeil reflected on which part of the book she most enjoyed writing, she said the opening chapter, “What Makes Great Wine Great,” was her favorite. In it, she outlines what she calls, “The 12 Attributes of Greatness” — qualities she believes all great wines possess, like balance, complexity and precision.

“I’ve been thinking about ‘what makes great wine great’ for decades, so the number of ‘Attributes of Greatness’ has grown from five to 12 since the book’s first edition,” MacNeil said. “I believe wine isn’t simply subjective. There are archetypal principles around the world that make a wine great, no matter the varietal or region.”

After nearly five years of painstaking work, MacNeil said she is proud the book is finally on shelves and is eager to hear from readers.

“Writing a book this big can be very solitary work and you can go years without receiving feedback,” she said. “You have to rely on your own sense of whether you’re on the right track. My hope is that I’ll begin to hear from people who find the book valuable. That makes me truly happy.”

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com.