Books on N. Rhone?

I am interested in learning more about the N. Rhone appellations such as Cote Rotie, Cornas, Hermitage, etc.
Syrah is my top wine. Living in California most of the Syrah I have had is from here.
I have dabbled some in N. Rhone but would like to learn more about the differences in the wines from different appellations so I can make better decisions about what to try.

Thanks

These are a couple I’ve read. I’ve also read the (better) 2nd edition of Lermouth’s NoRho book. The newest 3rd edition is still available on Amazon (I have not read that yet)

I’ve also read Parkers (very old) book on the Rhone. Not sure how much is germane in 2020 but it should be available for a song, and may be worth a skim.

You should also check www.drinkrhone.com. Many of the most interesting producers nowadays are young guns that have started in the last ten years or so and JLL does a good job of covering many of them.

Livingstone-Learmonth’s books and his website are the touchstones.

Thanks for the rec, just grabbed a copy

Great web site.

Thanks

I wanted to follow up here, because either this is incorrect or I’m missing something.

From what I know, JLL wrote a book called “The Wines of the Rhône” which was published in 1978 and covers both the North and the South, and there is only one edition of that book (I don’t own this book, so this is second-hand).
He later wrote a book called “The Wines of the Northern Rhône” which was published in 2005 and covers only the North, and there is only one edition of that book as well (I own this one).

I’m not aware of either book having a second edition, much less a newest third edition, and I don’t see anything on Amazon to the contrary. I thought I remembered reading a comment from JLL that the 2005 book weren’t a profitable use of his time, which is why it wasn’t followed up with “The Wines of the Southern Rhône,” as was originally intended. This made me despair of ever seeing an updated edition in book form (though of course I subscribe to his website), so if there is a newest edition out there, I’d like to know about it. If there isn’t, then at least I’ve corrected the record here.

But of course I agree it’s a terrific suggestion, as is Remington Norman’s book.

Cheers, and as we used to say back in the day when yet another wino discovered Rhône syrah after starting with Bordeaux and Napa cab (raises hand), “Welcome to the dark side!”

Regarding JLL’s books: to clarify I have books from 1978 and 1983 that are Wines of the Rhone. The 83 edition is substantially larger and more in depth than the slim 1978 effort. I see used copies of that version on Amazon at this link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01FGO85BK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vf00_taft_p1_i1

I’m not sure if the link will work for everyone or if those are for me only.

The 2005 book is what I erroneously called a 3rd Edition, when I suppose its technically a first one. Although for someone who had read the first two, it might feel like a 3rd/update.

I’d take pictures to show the differences, but I think with enough Amazon/Googling/ISBNing one can find whichever version they want.

I’ve been meaning to buy the 2005 for a while, and its on my watch list, but given that its not being updated, and seems to be unique information used copies don’t come cheap.

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In addition to Parker’s old/stale 1988 book on the Rhone, he does cover the region/estates in his various Buyers Guide published over the years (3 that I know of, perhaps more, but not all obvious on Amazon since they don’t denote the editions awesomely). Those should be all dirt cheap used, since for the most part the info is mostly on current releases (of that era) but the background information could be of interest especially on more obscure estates. I threw out like 20 years of Tanzer and Parker paper newsletters … but I kept some of the books in case I ever wanted to look something up. (and while checking this out, I ordered the 1997 Parker Rhone book, which I suppose is just a retread of all the stuff he already wrote, and just reassembled, but for $6.50 I’m ok with that)

Thanks, Arv. So “Wines of the Rhône” has two editions and “Wines of the Northern Rhône” just the one. I wasn’t aware of the second edition of the former. Thanks for clarifying.

On the one hand, I’m glad I hadn’t missed something, on the other I wish there were a more recent edition to miss. It’s a great resource and it would be fabulous to have an update more recent than 2005.

I have the Third Edition of Livingstone-Learmonth’s The Wines of the Rhône published in 1992:

What a great resource this site is for publishing “archaeology” - better than Amazon, that’s for sure!

OK, so three editions of “The Wines of the Rhône” (1978, 1983, 1992) and one edition of “The Wines of the Northern Rhône” (2005) are now accounted for. If anyone has info on any others, please let us know!

Was just checking out the drinkrhone.com website and that place is great. Can’t believe I hadn’t seen it until now.

Moreover, he’s actually reviewing wines I can/have purchased and not mythical beasts I can neither find nor afford.

Thanks for that. So even though my Amazon order history says that I ordered the 1983 version (back in 2015), it appears I was sent the 1992 version, verifying with the cover and publishing details page. That 3rd edition is quite thick, and totally worth getting, but it may have been a UK imprint and not so readily available in the US. I didn’t see it on Amazon yesterday.

JLL’s 1978 book is the earliest I ever hear talked about. Does anyone know of earlier books on the Northern Rhône (French or English) that talk about winemaking and/or winemakers?