Pascaline Lepeltier is the sommelier at highly regarded Chambers restaurant in Lower Manhattan, New York, with a superbly crafted and balanced wine list full of twists and turns. Most sommeliers at Lepeltier’s level and renown would have largely left working the floor behind but Pascaline is not most sommeliers. I saw this first hand as she floated between the 40 seats at Chambers until close on a typical Thursday night. But she is much more than that, having passed the MS exams back in 2014 before being crowned France’s top sommelier in 2018 all before authoring Mille Vignes (One Thousand Vines), first published in French in 2022 and recently translated into English.
To call One Thousand Vines a groundbreaking masterpiece is to barely touch on the quality of this work, both in its content and production. Lepeltier describes her book as the resource she would have liked to have had at her fingertips while a student and coming to grips with the complex world of wine. Undoubtedly, many wine students and wine collectors would feel the same but One Thousand Vines is no simple textbook and dives far deeper than will ever be required to pass any wine exam. It offers incredible depth of information and the subject matter moves regularly in a multitude of surprising directions. For most seasoned professionals, this book will answer questions before they are even considered.
Part biology, philosophy, geology, psychology, history and more, One Thousand Vines dives into an incredibly vast array of topics which are broken down into three broad sections: Reading Vines, Reading Landscape and Reading Wines. Some topics, such as terroir and tasting wine that are regularly explored elsewhere, are covered with extraordinary depth – even the most well-read professional will come away with an enhanced understanding. However, the greatest value of One Thousand Vines is where the author traverses new dimensions in the world of wine. The section on terroir covers various key elements in geology and soils before considering the effects of human elements and architectural heritage as well as the rise of appellations. Lepeltier effortlessly illustrates that a broad definition of terroir encompasses so much more than simple climate, soils and geography, thanks to her deep subject knowledge and connection to wine. Overall, One Thousand Vines not only describes the modern world of wine in intimate detail but also explores why and how it has developed from the first grapevines with a strong base in science. It is stunningly illustrated by Loan Nguyen Thanh Lan.
A quick study of Lepeltier’s background, and extended study of philosophy before entering the wine trade, does much to explain why One Thousand Vines offers new perspectives on wine, no doubt driven by those formative academic years. For some, this is a book that will provide an unnecessary level of detail and insights. For others, it will open new doors and appreciation for the beautiful world of wine.
