Five wine books to give this holiday season

New York

THE fascination with wine begins with the land, which year after year has the potential to produce something different and original from the same vineyard. So it is with wine writers, who each year plough more or less the same terrain, finding novel and provocative ways of presenting their material. Here are five of the most interesting books on wine that were published in 2017, which would make excellent gifts for friends, loved ones or yourself.

Few regions have undergone so fundamental an evolution in the last few decades as Champagne, and the nature of the transformation has been little understood. In Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers and Terroirs of the Iconic Region (Ten Speed Press, US$80), Peter Liem beautifully details the region's renewed focus as a producer of wines rather than a creator of luxury goods.