This book is as detailed, beautiful and informative as "The New France". This is a must buy for all serious wine students and consumers of the "best valued wines in the world: Spanish Wines.

Spain is fast becoming a premium-wine producing country. Critics like Robert Park and Stephen Tanzer have taken notice, giving mid-priced wines 90+. This book is not a buying guide but a straight-forward overview of the various regions of Spain. For those unfamiliar with regions like Toro DO, Yecla DO, Jumilla DO, Radford provides both insight into the climates, soils, history and some of the top-wine producers of each area, from Riax Baixas in the north to Jerez and the Canary Islands in the south. If wine is your profession or simply your pleasure, this book is a great reference. I work in retail and have taken courses through WSET - this book is my constant companion whether I'm buying or selling. "The New France" and "New Italy" are equally excellent.

This is a ok overview of spanish wine regions. However, it fails as a buying guide; there is no insight into "hot" areas, where producers are producing exceptional wines at very attractive prices. Areas such as Montsant, Almansa, Bullas, Gigals, Valdeorras, Ribera del Jucar are doing great things, but you would never know it, based on this book, unfortunately.

The New Spain is a great guide toward learning about and understanding everything related to Wine in Spain! If you are interested in learning more about Spainish Wine this is the book to get!!

I'll be brief: there is no finer in depth book about Spanish wine on the market to date. I cannot recommend the books published by Mitchell Beazley highly enough. I have found them indespensible for my studies towards my Master of Wine.

Pros: beautiful photos, in depth regional info, producer bios.
Cons: you need a 'decent' wine education before tackling this one.

Very good photos, commentary, wine routes suggested (tho I did not take one)significant properties listed, very good maps. They don't come any better, tho Spain is changing so fast I hope an update will come out.

I import Spanish wine for a living and I like this book as very informative, interesting and up-to-date guide. It works for both the newcomer and the experienced wine drinker looking for a jump-start on Spanish wines particularly emerging regions. I will be giving this as a gift to my customers.

I am a relative newcomer to the world of wine but because my wife's family is from Spain I thought that Spanish wines would be a good place to start (and perhaps teach my wine connoisseur friends something). Reading Wine Spectator and other wine books you hear about the exciting new developments coming out of Spain and how many critics are big fans of Spanish wines. Perhaps it is the romantic notion of Spain itself and Spaniards robust love of the simple things in life that add to Spanish wine's allure.

Because I wish to learn more about Spanish wines in particular, I have searched far and wide for good resources focused directly on Spanish wines. I have purchased Jan Read's Pocket Guide to the Wines of Spain but that is just a laundry list of wineries by region with perfunctory and cursory ratings that are not even broken down by vintage. There was little in the way of description of the grapes, the wineries, the region, the history etc.

Based on the reviews of "Rioja and It's Wines" I did not purchase it because it was supposedly more of a travel book than a wine book. I have Jeremy Watson's book on order but it is taking up to 2-3 months to get it. Up to now, the best reference I had was Robert Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide.

How happy I was that my search brought me to John Radford's book, "The New Spain: A Complete Guide to Contemporary Spanish Wines." If you want, like me, to learn more about Spain as a winemaking country, I would highly recommend this book. This book can sit on your coffee table. It has nice pictures and much more in-depth description of the current state of the Spanish wine industry. Radford's descriptions of each region are interesting and well written and a pleasure to read. I certainly found myself excited to explore the wines that Spain has to offer. Those of you who are looking for a good reference on Spanish wines in particular, Radford's book is the one to purchase. It will be your primary reference to Spanish wines and should you embrace all of the information in this book you will be the expert amongst your friends and colleagues.

Happy wine drinking, I hope you enjoy your exploration of the wines Spain has to offer.