The thinking person's alternative to The Emperor's '100 point grading system' tome on the Rhone. Livingstone-Learmonth provides a highly personal account of the vineyards, the growers and the wines, along with tasting notes and vintage profiles that reward style, character and finesse more than brutal extraction and sheer "hedonistic fruit bomb" amplitude -- a rare perspective on the wines from this sun-drenched part of France, the land where the pundits go to find big chunky monkey "special cuvee" reds and oily high alcohol whites slathered liberally (and uncharacteristically) in new oak. Rather than you-know-who's hyperbole about the "greatest in history" 2003 vintage, for example, Learmonth offers a thoughtful and even handed view that acknowledges the question marks surrounding the wines from that freakish growing season. In my humble view, this book is the English language reference standard on the northern Rhone, and a great follow up to Learmonth's earlier Faber publication on the northern and southern Rhone vineyards. My taste and my cellar are overwhelmingly skewed towards Burgundy, but this book sent me back down to my cellar to pull the corks on some older bottles of Cornas, St. Joseph, Cote Rotie and Hermitage and has me ready to lay down more of them -- and perhaps to head a bit further south on my next trip to France. A must have volume.