1.WINE TRAILS: Australia and New Zealand (Lonely Planet, 2018, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-78701-769-6, $20 USD hardbound) is one of a new series from Lonely Planet detailing 40 "perfect" [publisher's term] weekends in wine country. Covered here are the Australian hot spots of Margaret River, McLaren Vale, Hunter Valley, Coonawarra, Barossa, plus 25 more in the regions of New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. New Zealand has 10 in all, including Marlborough, Hawkes Bay, Waipara, and Gisborne. There are single weekends in these diverse regions, with Victoria being the most prolific at 10 wine areas. The entire country of New Zealand also has 10 regions. About 250 wineries are covered, so there is lots to do – that's 6 – 7 or so on each weekend, good pacing. With Marlborough as an example, there is a snapshot description of the cool climate area, a basic map with numbers for seven wineries to visit on that weekend, and blurbs about each winery and their wine specialties. All of them are either sustainable-natural or at the other end of the spectrum, biodynamic. Websites are given for more data, phone numbers, street addresses, time open, food, and price ranges. The end of the Marlborough chapter lists a few places to stay, to eat, and what to do. Small but useful photos are strewn about.
Audience and level of use: travellers, especially those who want to spend many weekends at these antipodean wineries.
The downside to this book: 5 contributors are mentioned but it is unclear who contributed what. One is from New Zealand, two more are from Australia.
The upside to this book: there are multiple indexes to architecture and art, experiences, and to the wineries themselves.
Quality/Price Rating: 92
Chimo! www.deantudor.com
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