Our book reviewer on new title 'The Look of Wine: Reading Wine Color'

'The Look of Wine: Reading Wine Color'

One of the things that the Master of Wine courses teach you is that colour doesn’t really matter in wine.

It can offer hints – the nutty shade of an amontillado versus a fino Sherry, the generally paler shade of Nebbiolo or Pinot Noir, the ‘rusting’ of reds with age – but it’s rarely a defining factor in figuring out a wine’s identity. In fact, it can often mislead.

But in a new book, The Look of Wine: Reading Wine Color (£35 Abrams, April 2025), colour designer Florence de la Rivière argues that colour is an integral element in assessing wine.

Sight transmits 20 times as much information as smell, and 10 times faster, yet it doesn’t, in her view, get nearly enough airtime in vinous circles.

The book came about after de la Rivière was asked to lecture at the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin in Bordeaux.

Inspired by her research, she spoke to a range of producers around the world about wine and colour – building a vivid vocabulary that she brings to life in her book as she encourages drinkers to engage further with wine’s appearance.

Following an introduction to colour and its role in tasting wine, the book is divided into three main sections, looking at reds, rosés and whites, with shades of each explored through the lens of specific grape varieties, wines and famous producers.

There are brief interviews, with different perspectives being brought in by the likes of sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Aubert de Villaine and Château Cheval Blanc’s Pierre Lurton.

The book is thought-provoking, but the translation stumbles in places. The use of the terms ‘lady sommelier’ and ‘lady winemaker’ is irksome and outdated.

I’d have loved to see more about the effects of whole-bunch fermentation and sulphur dioxide on colour, and there are lines that betray a lack of specialist knowledge.

I found the small section on the history of colour in art fascinating – and couldn’t help thinking that it could be an even more interesting way to look at the topic.

Has the book shifted the way that I think about wine and colour? In short, no.

I agree that a wine’s colour can enhance enjoyment – the glimmer and gleam in the glass, the way it refracts candlelight, its gentle shift at the rim and evolution with time all add to wine’s appeal – but I’m not convinced it’s integral to our understanding of wine.

Regardless of its textual contents, the book is, in itself, an objet d’art: a beautiful hardback with deliciously thick paper, but – most importantly – packed with stunning photography by Jérôme Bryon.

His work is saturated with character – complementing what could seem a somewhat staid topic with colourful shots of wineries, winemakers and wines in the glass.

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