Book review: Thirst by John Robins is 'an important read, as well as a good one'

I know a lot of people in recovery these days – as, I fear, many of us do. The wine trade, I also fear, is home to many people who should be in recovery but aren’t, or aren’t yet.

This industry, with its endless tastings, lunches and dinners, can conveniently mask addiction. In a business where it’s normal to start a 30-wine tasting at 9am, it’s easy to hide dependency.

For years, comedian John Robins hid his addiction, or hid the way he drank – not ready to admit that it was a problem. In his new memoir, Thirst: Twelve Drinks that Changed My Life (£20 Viking, May 2026), he traces his relationship with alcohol over the course of his life – from a sip of Champagne aged five to a seemingly perfect pint – and eventual journey into sobriety.

For what is undoubtedly a heavy topic, it’s a surprisingly light read, chatty in style and infused with dark humour, yet also with some literary heft (Robins read English at Oxford, so he comes with academic credentials).

The book offers remarkable insight into the different forms that addiction can take, looking at how a life can be controlled by drink – revolving around when and from where the next glass, pint or bottle will arrive.

It’s about the ways in which an addict will rationalise behaviour, the internal rules that render their addiction acceptable – about how addiction doesn’t always fit the stereotype.

You may not be swigging vodka from a hipflask at 7am, but you may still have a problem.

The wine business trades in a drug – one that’s legal, and one that I love, but one that obviously still comes with risks. Those risks apply whether you’re pounding cheap vodka, £4 Pinot Grigio or first growth claret – just because you’re drinking well, it doesn’t mean you’re not drinking too much.

Can alcoholics be ‘high-functioning’? Is Dry January problematic? Is addiction the product of nature or nurture? Robins discusses all of this and more throughout the course of the book, all effortlessly entwined with frank anecdotes about a life that relied on drink – and a life that was, for years, devastated by it.

I’ll warn you now – there’s a certain amount of bodily fluid involved. This isn’t a book that will teach you about wine. I suspect not many ‘wine people’ will read it. But you should.

It’s an important read – as well as a good one – for anyone who enjoys a drink, and perhaps especially for anyone who has ever wondered if they drink too much.

New wine region guides

New and updated

The Classic Wine Library (published by Académie du Vin Library) – publisher of books that are stalwarts for wine nerds – has just released one new and one updated guide.

Leading Portuguese expert Richard Mayson offers up a second edition of his Wines of Portugal (£35, July 2026), while Elizabeth Gabay MW and Ben Bernheim are behind The Wines of Provence (£35, June 2026), a new addition to the range that demonstrates that the varied region boasts so much more than the rosé for which it’s famous.