Did you know that Leo Buring persuaded Walt Disney to create an Australian cartoon character, ‘Mickey’s Kangaroo’? Or that he smuggled a flor yeast culture out from Spain in a handkerchief which gave Quelltaler a thirty-year edge on other dry sherry producers? Or that at Leonay, his NSW country home, he bred native animals to send to foreign zoos? Or that his brother, Rudi, designed the squat bottle in which Buring packaged his new white wine which changed the way Australians view wine, Rinegolde? You may have heard that Leo Buring was once brought in to save the Lindemans wine company, but after his death it then purchased his own brand, Chateau Leonay. And that in the last years of the last century he was Australia’s most qualified winemaker. In Leo Buring – Australia’s first wine authority, Dr Phillip Norrie accurately details much unknown information about one of the most important figures in Australian wine. He tracks Buring’s life through his Prussian origins, his education at Prince Alfred College and Roseworthy College and his year (1898) at Montpellier College, France. ‘LB’, as he was affectionately known, was a great wine communicator, for many years Australia’s unofficial wine ambassador. An entrepreneurial businessman with instinctive flair in marketing, he is owed great credit for turning Australians from fortified to table wines with the development of the slightly sweet Rinegolde, in its flat and sparkling forms. Norrie precisely tells of his deep interest in all aspects of wine from the vineyard to the table, of his remarkable contribution to many facets of the wine industry in his extremely active 85 years. Max Schubert, Winemaker (2nd Edition) by Huon Hooke Kerr $29.95, widely available A reprint of this popular book on Australia’s most feted winemaker, which now takes into account Grange’s recent worldwide boom and unprecedented prices. Tasting notes on the various Grange releases have been updated to include the author’s impressions made on the only occasion in recent Australian history at which an entire set was tasted at once, courtesy of Anders Josephson. The book also includes recently unearthed notes of vintage conditions and the composition of each wine concerning grape varieties and fruit sources. Simply put, a collector’s must. James Halliday’s Interactive Australian and New Zealand Wine Companion by James Halliday HarperCollins $49.95, widely available The first time this remarkable interactive compendium of typically well-researched and presented information has been made available on CD-ROM, with a soft cover copy of the book thrown in for good measure. Since I reviewed the book last issue, I won’t say any more than it can now create your own cellar data base, has interactive wine region maps and extensive search and print facilities throughout and is very highly recommended. Windows On The World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly Sterling $39.95, widely available Forget what this book says about Australian wine, but consider it as a simple, easy-to-understand investment in the understanding of imported wine. Founder and instructor of the well-known Windows of the World Wine School, Kevin Zraly is an American with a light, chatty style who ably demystifies much of the rather confusing stuff about world wine that some of us find it rather difficult to come to grips with. Its prominent American content is perhaps echoed in its extensive use of gold ink throughout. An Introduction to Australian Wine by James Halliday A&R $24.95, widely available Excellent, easy-to-understand and approachable basic wine book from our most prolific author. By far the best primer around in 1997.
