It may sound strange that a wine lover would find reading about wine to be fulfilling…but it is!  Not only does reading expand your horizons, the books I list below are quite simply good reads on their own merit.  This is a listing of my favourites.

Robert M. Parker Jr. is a controversial and prolific writer and wine critic who publishes the Wine Advocate, a bi-monthly review of recent tastings he conducts.  His ratings are considered by some to be an important factor in setting the annual prices for Bordeaux wines.  Parker is among things the authority on the wines of the Rhône Valley.   Several Parker books are recommended references:

Wines of the Rhône Valley, Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide, Sixth Edition, Simon & Schuster, 2002

Jancis Robinson is also a prolific writer and commentator on wines.  Her Oxford Companion to Wine was updated in 1999 and is a true encyclopaedia on wine (Oxford University Press).  While the Companion should be in everyone's wine library, I would buy two other JR books first:

Tasting Pleasure, Confessions of a Wine Lover, Penguin, 1999 - a great story of a true oenophile's journey from student days at Oxford to hob-nobbing over the grand crus of Bourdeaux with the elder statesmen of wine.

Johnson, Robinson, The World Atlas of Wine, Fifth Edition, Mitchell Beazley, 2001 - a very helpful guide to where wine comes from.  We all learn better when we see pictures:  the maps in this atlas help us learn more about the geography and terroir of wine regions throughout the world.

I list below some books on wine in France that are noteworthy for their coverage of both the wines as well as the people of the wine.  There is great balance in all these books, with the Lynch being most appropriate for budding travelers.  Kermit Lynch is a famous American importer of wines from France and his story of one wine buying trip in the late 80's profiles many growers in a highly personal way:

Jefford, Andrew, The New France, A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine, Mitchell Beazley, 2002

Lynch, Kermit, Adventures on the Wine Route, a Wine Buyer's Tour of France, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1988

Kladstrup, Don & Petie, Wine and War, The French, the Nazis and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure, Broadway Books, 2001
       
Strang, Paul, Languedoc Roussillon, The Wines & Winemakers, Mitchell Beazley, 2002

Some final thoughts. 

The Hachette Guide is incredibly detailed and rates some 9,000 French wines, district by district. It is published annually in the French language edition.  It is available in English only periodically (the 2004 edition is the most recent).

Simon Wood’s book on wine-making is a real pleasure, following a wine season through the eyes of a producer in Burgunday and a large-scale, high volume producer in the south of France.  It is a great story and highly informative, with lots of photographs.

The McInerney book is the most readable, entertaining and informative I have ever encountered on wine:   I wish it had been twice as long. 

Now out-of-print, the Raffael book is a wonderful guide to the cuisine of Provence.  I saw the book at the home of a Canadian who lives in Vaucluse and ordered my copy from Alibris.com.  Get yours, it’s mouth-watering!

Wilson is a retired Shell Oil Company geologist who explains the geologic, climatic and cultural reasons for why French wines differ the way they do (technical but worth the read for the true student of French wines; a good complement to The World Atlas of Wine).

Hachette, The Hachette Guide to French Wines 2004, Mitchell Beazley, 2003

McInerney, Jay, Bacchus & Me, Adventures in the Wine Cellar, Vintage Books, 2002

Woods, Simon, Vine to Bottle, How Wine is Made, Mitchell Beazley, 2001

Raffael, Michael, Provence – Twelve Journeys with a Gastronome, George Philip Limited, 1990

Wilson, James E., Terroir, The Role of Geology, Climate and Culture in the Making of French Wines, University of California Press, 1998