What people are saying

The New French Wine

(Find coverage of Jon’s prior books here, and other media mentions here.)

“It’s not a reference book, but something better: an opinionated, thought-provoking work that uses wine as a vehicle for cultural history. … It’s difficult, in our globalized wine world, to focus on any one country in a vacuum. Yet if any country has earned that attention, it’s France. Mr. Bonné has done a beautiful job shining the light.”

Eric Asimov, The New York Times

“An impressive compendium of knowledge that belongs in the library of every avowed oenophile.”

Bon Appetit

“Massive, deep, sometimes surprising, contemporary polemic on the current state of wine in France.”

Jancis Robinson, The Financial Times

“The most complete and stimulating work that I have read about my country in a long time, in any language.”

Pascaline Lepeltier, La Revue du Vin de France
(lire en français)

“The year’s most essential wine book … destined to be a touchstone reference for years to come.”

The Boston Globe

“It took American writer and Francophile Jon Bonné eight years to write The New French Wine (Ten Speed Press). That’s hardly surprising when you consider the amount of information processed to create this masterful guide. … A must-have for any lover of French wines.”

Victoria Moore, The Telegraph

The Best Wine Books of 2023: “Bonné celebrates the iconoclastic vignerons who chafe at the system and fight for their individual expressions of wine and place. This set should thrill fans of natural wine and fuel many a vinous debate over the nature of terroir and the strictures of convention.”

The Washington Post

“Redefining French wine was never going to be light work – and this two-volume opus weighs in at more than 3.5kg. But the hot-pink spine gives some clue to the lively voice inside that has made Jon Bonné one of America’s most-awarded wine writers. … A definitive guide that’s still personal in style.”

The Financial Times

“Bonné is a man who has clearly done more than just live the Gallic dream, he has equally had to endure it. More than 30,000 kilometres driven, many into what Anthony Bourdain would have termed ‘parts unknown’. The book is replete with evocative photographs of la France profonde, its vines and its people; but it is no florid panegyric to the beauty of a photogenic ideal. To use an anatomical analogy, Bonné gets under the skin, cuts through the fat and examines the meat that makes up modern viticultural France. This is not a work of sentimentality.”

Jancisrobinson.com

“Just when you didn’t think there was anything new to say about French wine, there is, and in a beautifully photographed two-volume boxed set by the former wine critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and author of The New Wine Rules (2017). “

Forbes

“One seriously doubts that there has been so multilayered an account of la France viticole. Bonné musters and adeptly mines two centuries’ worth of ampelographic, viticultural, and enological literature, which time and again yields not just fascinating (and what even knowledgeable wine professionals will sometimes find unexpected) insights into past practices and perceptions, but also signposts to roads not taken or little traveled, yet well worth exploring.”

David Schildknecht, World of Fine Wine

“From the first sentence of his masterful two-volume set, The New French Wine, Jon Bonné embraces the flak. With that sentence—’C’est compliqué’—Bonné lays out his intention to lean into every contradiction, every paradox, every trend and principle, creating a portrait of the country in all its turbulence and vitality, a wine culture rooted in tradition, and straining to break free … He has created a comprehensive picture of French Wine in its current moment.”

Wine & Spirits

“Few writers have captured both the glory and shame of contemporary wine and food culture better than Jon Bonné, whose unapologetic criticism and captivating storytelling has made him one of the most influential voices in food and wine today.”

The New Wine Review

5 Big Wine Books to Buy Now and Use Forever: “Mr. Bonné’s book isn’t just beautifully designed and photographed but also deeply researched.”

The Wall Street Journal 

The Best 15 Coffee Table Books to Gift: “This box set of two French wine books is great for gifting your favorite amateur sommelier.”

Esquire

The 7 Best Wine Books of the Year: “An enormous undertaking, this book is clearly a labor of love that wine lovers will turn to again and again.”

Robb Report

Best Gifts for Wine Lovers in 2024: “A fantastic gift for someone who has shown an interest in learning the nitty-gritty about wine.”

CNN Underscored

Best Food & Drink Gifts For the Holidays: “Bonné leads readers through the most iconic regions while introducing them to the area’s most progressive producers.”

Bloomberg

Best Wine Books 2023: “A truly fascinating and thought-provoking read that raises deep questions about how France (and Europe) positions itself in the world today – as a leading wine producing country and otherwise.”

Decanter

“The 400 pages capture the country’s most enigmatic producers and catalogue shifts in French wine, all while considering the cultural, historical and economic fabrics of the regions. … The book comes at a pivotal moment.”

Toronto Star

“This technicolor two-box set is pretty irresistible. It’s also comprehensive: author Jon Bonné takes readers on a guided tour through France’s entire wine landscape, including 800 producers and 7,000-plus wines from each of the nation’s regions.”

Vinepair

“Jon Bonné is one of our generation’s brightest and most articulate wine writers. …  The New French Wine is a tour-de-force in writing and a career-defining achievement.”

Antonio Galloni, Vinous

“Trying to cram a review of the 850 pages of Jon Bonné’s magisterial – and compendious – The New French Wine into a couple of hundred words brings to mind childhood jokes about how you go about fitting elephants into a refrigerator … but really this is a celebration of the elements that ensure that French wines continue to capture the admiration of wine lovers the world over.”

Club Oenologique

“Come for the bold, eye-catching cover design, stay for the maps and thoroughly, amazingly geeky reporting on Burgundy, the Jura, Champagne, and much more.”

Food & Wine

“An expert at the top of their game.

Taste

“The New French Wine is a once-in-a-decade, if not -in-a-lifetime, work that will change the way we drink and think about wine; and not just French.”

South China Morning Post

“Opinionated, impassioned, articulate, eloquent, this is a must-read for anyone who cares about French wine culture — past, present and future.”

Oz Clarke

“Whether you read it cover to cover or keep it on your coffee table for casual perusal, this is the go-to tome for French wine lovers.”

Urban Daddy

“In a sea of newly released wine books, it’s almost impossible to find one that both tells a story and acts as an encyclopedic reference all at once—enter The New French Wine.”

Taste France

“There’s certainly no better—or more beautiful—present for the Francophile or wine aficionado in your life than ‘The New French Wine.’ Written by two-time James Beard Award-winning author, Jon Bonné, this two-part, in-depth book acts as an encyclopedia to all that’s relevant in French wine today.”

Spruce Eats

“What he found was that France’s young winemakers were shaking the industry up by going back to the way things were done in the 19th century, before the scourge of phylloxera and the rise of the appellation system.”

Hemispheres

“Beautiful enough to keep on your dining table, and informative enough to live by the bedside, we’re bobbing our leg in anticipation for Bonné’s comprehensive follow-up to his slight (but mighty) ‘The New Wine Rules.'”

Tasting Table

“It is a mic drop book in every facet: writing, photos, illustrations, design, packaging.”

Jim Meehan

Podcasts, Radio, and More

The New Paris Podcast: On The New French Wine (Nov. 2023)
The American Library in Paris: The New French Wine (October 2023)
David Lebovitz: The New French Wine (July 2023)
Taste Podcast 213: Jon Bonné (April 2023)
Wine Enthusiast: The French Wine Industry Is Transforming (June 2023)
Monocle Radio: Jon Bonné + The New French Wine (April 2023)
Grape Nation / Heritage Radio: The New French Wine (May 2023)
Julia Child Foundation / Heritage Radio: Meet Jon Bonné (April 2023)