Wine Blog » World Of Wine

Wine gift – Wine by Design (Interior Angles)

Wineguy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:00:23 +0000

George Washington Wine Cooler Fetches $782,500 at Auction
It was one of four wine coolers Washington ordered in 1789, the year he was sworn into office and moved into his first official residence, on Cherry Street in Manhattan. President’s Gift In 1797, as Washington left office and moved to Mount

Wine by Design (Interior Angles)
There is a revolution currently underway in the world of wine. Established and new vintners are discovering the dual marketing advantage of coupling exquisite, name-brand designer architecture with the winery tour. Internationally renowned architects, such as Frank Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron, and Santiago Calatrava, have all designed wineries that focus on the experience of wine production for the visitor while providing brand recognition in the form of architecture.

Celebrating the new alignment that the wine industry is making with design, Wine by Design highlights the most exciting new designs for wineries and spaces of wine from throughout the world including Australia, Chile, USA, Canada and the established vineyards of Europe.

It also emphasises the way design is making headway into wine retail and wine bars, as well as the trend for conspicuously displayed spaces for the storage and consumption of wine.

Customer Review: A great pairing of Wine & Architecture
I bought this as a Christmas gift for one of my many wine loving friends and just had to get one for myself. It tackles a unique subject – winery architecture – and gives you a good but not too in depth description of the wine making region, the wine facilities, and the wines themselves. It is full of great colour photography, site plans, and a broad selection of wineries around the world. The architecture featured is modern and not what you expect of typical wineries…the Gehry sketches alone are worth the price of the book! Want to impress your friends? Leave this book out on your coffee table. Better yet, pull this book out and enjoy while you sip on a Rioja red.

Grape Wine – First Big Crush: The Down and Dirty on Making Great Wine Down Under

Wineguy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:24 +0000

First Big Crush: The Down and Dirty on Making Great Wine Down Under
The story behind the bottle, First Big Crush is Eric Arnold’s wild account of his year immersing himself in all things wine…and somehow not winding up in rehab.

Never having held a meaningful job for very long (and getting fired from most of them), Eric Arnold heads to New Zealand — to Allan Scott Wines — seeking adventure and hoping to learn a little bit about wine. What could be better than working outside in the fresh air and drinking wine all day? Before he knows it, he is dirty, wet, cold, and at the mercy of a tank of wine that just might explode and take him with it. So begin Eric’s adventures in the world of wine. He gets sunburned, sore, and drunk — and then does it all over again the next day.

First Big Crush is a story that is as outrageous as it is compelling. Here are tales of first pressings, pruning, and tasting competitions. There are also rowdy nights at the local pub, girls, meat pies, girls, rugby, and tales of hunting wild pig. Along the way, each step of the winemaking process is explained in a way that humans can actually understand. Almost against his will, Eric becomes an expert.

Customer Review: A fraternity boy’s drunken rant
Trash. I cannot believe how such a great topic was ruined by Eric Arnold’s immature writing and drinking. I was so looking forward to a wonderful informative book on NZ winemaking, but I couldn’t get past Eric’s being drunk all the time and talking like a freshman frat boy! Grow up.

Customer Review: Read the “dirty” in more than one sense
Eric Arnold spent a year in New Zealand’s Marlborough winemaking region. Years earlier he spent a day touring the area: “And from my very first sip of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at ten-thirty or so on that morning, I knew it, too — I was tasting something special. My mouth zipped and zinged, and though I couldn’t describe the flavors I was tasting, I was sure of only one thing: I wanted more. I was hammered by noon, with five wineries still to go. At one point I stole the tour guide’s microphone in the van and started singing karaoke — “The Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson — even though I didn’t know the words. I might’ve taken off my shirt, too, but I don’t remember. From winery to winery and sip to sip, the wines just got better and better. From the time I got back home to Brooklyn, whenever I was in a wine shop I either bought wine from New Zealand or asked for something similar. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was my new Hogue.”

The memory of that firts Sauvignon Blanc sticks in Arnold’s memory:

“For a few years after that trip I was still guzzling whatever New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc I could find at night, and spending my daylight hours working the copy desk at a small business magazine. It was better than working for the Nazi devil woman at PBS, but the same could probably be said for cleaning up monkey shit at the zoo (which, I imagine, is very similar to working at PBS). So out of a desire to drink more, work less, and maybe satisfy a little curiosity, up sprang the idea of just throwing myself into the lifestyle: getting a job at a winery and writing a book about it.”

Arnold initially knows nothing about winery work, but you have to admire his cheerful attitude, no matter what reality throws at him. He learns about rugby, pig hunting, and hard working rural New Zealanders. He finds two particularly difficult areas: the finer points of pitchforking and pruning winter vines in the cold fields. He concludes:

“Vineyard work sucks…I have no idea why, but many people who drink wine think that making it is some sort of relaxed, cushy lifestyle. And I don’t understand it , because I’ve never eaten a juicy steak and imagined how romantic and luxurious a life I’d have if I started raising cattle in Wyoming. Similarly, I’ve never met anyone who got a massage and moved to Sweden or shot heroin and moved to Afghanistan.”

Arnold is excellent at describing the difficulties and joys of working in a vineyard and in a winery. His language may be a bit racy for some readers, his humor a little too broad. Overall, I found the substance worth a few “Oh, grow up” moments.

Fine Wine – Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course: A Guide to the World of Wine

Wineguy — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:00:16 +0000

Social Scene: Wine & Dine for the Arts – Albany Times Union

Social Scene: Wine & Dine for the Arts
Albany Times Union
Were you Seen at the Wine & Dine for the Arts Grand Gala in the Hotel Albany on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012? (Joe Putrock/Special To The Times Union) Were you Seen at the Wine & Dine for the Arts Grand Gala in the Hotel Albany on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012? …

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Small Talk: Help solve the mystery — Follow the clues to the CSI wine-tasting … – Anniston Star

Small Talk: Help solve the mystery — Follow the clues to the CSI wine-tasting …
Anniston Star
The 2012 annual wine-tasting dinner hosted by the board of directors of Children's Services Inc. is scheduled for Jan. 28. The event benefits our community's Parris Home for Children. The fun begins at Classic on Noble at 6 pm Chairpersons for this …

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Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course: A Guide to the World of Wine
The enormous variety of wines available today can be baffling even to an experienced buyer. Anyone who enters a wine store is immediately confronted by rows and rows of racks filled with a myriad of choices. Where do you begin when all you want is a reasonably priced quality wine to serve with dinner? Jancis Robinson can make anyone an expert, or at least an informed buyer, in short order. In this comprehensive guide to the wine-producing countries of the world, she captures the flavor of each region’s wines and presents her personal recommendations on the best names from around the world, with thirty-two completely new pages covering the latest developments in South America, South Africa, and Eastern Europe. Robinson also describes the distinctive characteristics of hundreds of different grape varieties and studies the traditional and innovative methods employed in the creation of great wines. A fully updated vintage guide makes selection even easier.

Dedicated to ensuring that you get the most out of every glass, Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course explains how to taste and store wine, what to serve on special occasions at home, and how to order the best value from a restaurant wine list. Full of infectious enthusiasm and heaps of personal tips, this book will soon have you reaching for the corkscrew.

Customer Review: Everything You Need To Know About Wine
What a great book! This book teaches you as much or as little as you want to know about wine. It takes the confusion out of tasting new wines and shopping for wine is now fun. You could study it like a textbook and become well versed in the subject or learn what you need to know to make drinking wine more enjoyable.

Customer Review: Not The Best For Starters
If you are looking for a good book to start out with, to learn the basic ABC’s of wine, then I would reccomend The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Wine by Phillip Seldon. This one (Jancis Robinson’s) however is good for people like myself who already know the basics (the distinguishing characteristics of grape varieties, the main regions, how to make reasonablly good food/wine pairings, etc.)
In other words, it’s not the easiest book to follow.

Another note- she makes her disgust of Spanish wines known in the opening paragraph on page 222 when she says “If it (Spain) had Germany’s love of efficiency, or France’s respect for bureaucracy, Spain might be sending us oceans of judiciously priced wine made expressly for the international market. But Spain is an anarchic jumble of districts and regions…and heartbreakingly awful human constructions, and has to be treated as such by the wine enthusiast.”
I found those comments to be misleading, as Spain to me is a model exporter of high quality wines. Just about any Rioja or Tempranillo wine imported and that goes for less than $…is of fine quality. That is my opinion of course. Another semi-complaint is that there was not enough material on Argentina (only 6 paragraphs) which I found to be a shame, since Argentina has very unique and delicious wines.

Overall this is good, as I said earlier, for those who already have a basic knowledge.

Bar Wine – Michael Broadbent’s Vintage Wine

Wineguy — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:00:14 +0000

Wine Adviser Seattle Times wine adviser lists his Top 100 – The Seattle Times

Wine Adviser Seattle Times wine adviser lists his Top 100
The Seattle Times
Their Rock Island Red is a great wine and under $20. (December 18, 2011, by Archimage) Read more FOR MY sixth annual Wine Adviser Top 100 list I have decided to make the competition even tougher by including the wines of Oregon. As in years past, …

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Michael Broadbent’s Vintage Wine

Unquestionably unique, demonstrably delightful, Michael Broadbent’s Vintage Wine is the culmination of one of the most extraordinary careers in the world of wine. Michael Broadbent quite possibly knows more about fine, old wines than anyone else alive, and he writes about them with unparalleled expertise.
Hired by Christie’s in 1966 to revive their wine auctions, Broadbent threw himself into his work, searching out great collections of the world’s finest wine–and keeping meticulous tasting notes. Here are evocations of Chateau d’Yquem from 1784–one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorites–and hundreds of vintages and thousands of wines right up to the present.
Years of “cellars visited and pillaged, involving the checking and packing of dust- and grime-laden bottles in distinctly dank and chilly conditions,” jet-set auctions around the world, legendary tastings and society events, have all helped to create an unrivalled store of vinous anecdotes as well as an unsurpassed wine-tasting history.

EXCERPT

From a tasting of 1784 Chateau Yquem:
“The most renowned vintage of the late 18th century and well-documented thanks mainly to the original copies of the letters and orders of Thomas Jefferson. . . . Jefferson did not trust wine merchants and insisted on bottling at the chateau. . . . The wine has a warm mahogany-amber colour with a pronounced yellow-green rim. Initially, the nose, unsurprisingly, was creakingly old but after fifteen minutes settled down to reveal a remarkably rich, tangy, honeyed scent.”

Customer Review: The Bible of ollder world wines
There is no other referance book like it. Admittedly a very personalized review of wines that Michael Broadbent has tasted over his lifetime.

Customer Review: the ultimate vintage book
Simply stated this is the best vintage book ever published. I am ordering a second copy as I keep the first in the wine cellar for making selections and need a second for my library so my guests can see what they are drinking. There is none better!!!

Wine gift – Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course

Wineguy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:00:14 +0000

The 12 Wines of Christmas — Day 3: The must-have wine map – San Francisco Chronicle (blog)

San Francisco Chronicle (blog)

The 12 Wines of Christmas — Day 3: The must-have wine map
San Francisco Chronicle (blog)
As a prelude to the big holiday, Inside Scoop brings you the 12 Wines of Christmas. Each day from now until Dec. 23, we'll have a suggestion for something wine-related to make your season brighter. Wine maps are one of those supreme nerd devices. …

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Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course
Let Andrew Jefford be your guide to the rich and fascinating world of wine. His wine course consists of 20 clearly defined projects, so you can learn the essentials in a helpful order and at your own pace. The first part of the book, The Tools, covers the kit you’ll need for tasting and thinking about wine, including different glasses, the varying colors of key wine types and their smell and taste. You’ll learn how to choose wine and record your impressions. The Elements explains wine’s components. Andrew profiles the magnificent seven grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Pinot Noir, plus many more from the extended vine family. He also pictures what happens in the earth and sky as the vine grows, and the role of the winemaker in shaping the finished product. The final part of the book, The Journey, takes you on a tour of the world’s wineproducing countries, describing the characteristics of each. • “Exceptional…a must buy and read.” Robert Parker on Andrew Jefford’s The New France. • Includes helpful factfiles, “try” boxes suggesting easy tasting comparisons, and “what people love about…” summaries of the world’s main wine types.

Bar Wine – Wine Science, Third Edition (Food Science and Technology) (Food Science and Technology)

Wineguy — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:00:26 +0000

Project seeks to expand South Dakota wine industry – Oregonian
BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota State University is taking part in a project aimed at stimulating the grape and wine industry in South Dakota and a dozen other northern states with cold climates. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will

Crushed Grapes: Put a Cork in It? Not So Much – The Ledger
I tend to be a traditional guy when it comes to things like opening wine. I like to use a corkscrew; there’s something about the process involved that lets me know I’m going to drink something a little more special than milk or grape soda.

Wine Science, Third Edition (Food Science and Technology) (Food Science and Technology)
Understand the three pillars of wine science—- grape culture, wine production, and sensory evaluation– in the third edition of this bestselling title.

Author Ronald Jackson takes readers on a scientific tour into the world of wine by detailing the latest discoveries in this exciting industry. From grape anatomy to wine and health, this book includes coverage of material not found in other enology or viticulture texts including details on cork and oak, specialized wine making procedures, and historical origins of procedures. Jackson uniquely breaks down sophisticated techniques, allowing the reader to easily understand wine science processes.

NEW to this edition:

* Extensive revision and additions on: chemistry of red wine color, origin of grape varietyies, wine language, significance of color and other biasing factors to wine perception, various meanings and significance of wine oxidation
* Significant additional coverage on brandy and ice wine production
* New illustrations and color photos

Purchase Wine – Investing in Liquid Assets: Uncorking Profits in Today’s Global Wine Market

Wineguy — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:00:13 +0000

Investing in Liquid Assets: Uncorking Profits in Today’s Global Wine Market
Now more than ever, the value of Investment-Grade Wines (IGWs) and opportunities to invest in wine as an asset class are soaring. With a little research and a little risk, wine enthusiasts on every level will find it possible to gain big rewards in wine investment — and there’s never been a better time to try. IGWs have dependably outperformed blue chip stocks over the past 150 years, and the upscale wine market is still an area in which independent investors can profit handsomely.

A third-generation wine merchant, and CEO of one of the largest rare-wine companies in the world, David Sokolin knows how to turn fine wine into cold cash. And he knows how you can, too. In simple, practical terms, Investing in Liquid Assets provides all the information you need to understand the economic principles that govern the world of fine wine and take advantage of the resources currently available.

Using his insider’s expertise, Sokolin defines Investment-Grade Wine and identifies the most financially important wine regions and styles. Defining the key players in the field, Sokolin shows you how to navigate the world of wine critics and understand the impact of their scores, and he explains why it’s perfectly fine that your own personal tastes really don’t matter. He offers tips on where to find reputable sources for fine wine, how to manage storage and resale, as well as all-important buying and selling strategies. In the second half of the book, he gives overviews of the world’s greatest wine regions and offers his predictions about which regions and which wines are likely to represent the greatest investment opportunities in the near future.

Providing information and tactics previously known only to successful professionals, Investing in Liquid Assets turns your passion for fine wine into a valuable resource that will pay for itself.

Customer Review: the only book you need on the subject
A book like this is long overdue. It’s both authoritative and readable–a rare combination. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in investment grade wine, whether casually or professionally.

Customer Review: Must Have For Serious Wine Collectors
Dave Sokolin is the most dynamic and entrepreneurial man in the American wine trade, involved in everything from vineyards to retailing, but mostly in the business of making money from investing in wine. If you really want to know how the business of wine works, buy this book. You might make some money, too, in a commodity that is highly non-correlative with equity investments.

Make Wine – De Long’s Wine Grape Varietal Table

Wineguy — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 18:00:12 +0000

Utah families help with the comeback of historic Tokaj grapes at Hungarian winery – Salt Lake Tribune
This welcome infestation creates unique flavors and makes the grapes phenomenal for wine. Tokaj wines are made using only white grapes, mostly Furmint (similar to chenin blanc), Harslevelu (similar to gewürztraminer) and muscat. Located in the

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De Long’s Wine Grape Varietal Table
Learn about Wine the Visual Way.

You consider yourself fairly open minded about wine. You’re familiar with the big five — Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay — and are getting comfortable with more obscure grape varieties: the occasional Albarino, Petite Sirah, or Viognier. But just when you thought you had the situation under control, your waiter suggests a Lagrein, your local liquor store is pushing Xynomavro, and your friends now swear by Pineau d’Aunis. What to do?

The popular wine reference, De long’s Wine Grape Varietal Table has been improved and expanded. Just as with the first edition, the world of wine grapes is organized in a clear, concise and easy to use reference similar to a periodic table. The table contains 184 red and white grape varieties organized by both body (vertically) and acidity (horizontally). The Wine Indexes, which help to answer the bacchanalian question “what grape are you drinking?”, now include all wine regions worldwide. To fit all the additional information in, the table is now 24 x 36 inches (printed on 110 lb. acid-free archival paper), and the indexes now comprise an 88 page perfect-bound book. The table and index book are packaged in an attractive and sturdy gift box.

It makes a great gift for novice or expert lovers of wine and is the first in the De Long’s Wine Info Series, a concise set of wine information guides.

Customer Review: top chart
An excellent tool for training, eduction or just curiosity. It is very easy to understand and reference.

Customer Review: Fabulous Chart.
I have many friends who enjoy wine, some of them in the food/hospitality business. They are all jealous of this chart.

Wine gift – Reflections of a Wine Merchant

Wineguy — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:00:13 +0000

Wine, Women and Fishing for cancer research – Daily Press
Women & Fishing tournament sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation. Proceeds from the event benefit breast cancer research at EVMS. It’s a ladies-only charity billfish tournament. On Sunday, August 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fishing

Thursday’s Letters to the Editor – Santa Rosa Press Democrat
He cared enough about 32 million uninsured Americans to fight to get them access to health care. He made Congress extend unemployment benefits, and he signed the mean-spirited comments about the Mabrys’ wines, nothing could have been farther from

Reflections of a Wine Merchant

A leading importer of limited-production wines of character and quality takes us on an intimate tour through family-owned vineyards in France and Italy and reflects upon the last three decades of controversy, hype, and change in the world of wine

In the late 1970s, Neal I. Rosenthal set out to learn everything he could about wine. Today, he is one of the most successful importers of traditionally made wines produced by small family-owned estates in France and Italy. Rosenthal has immersed himself in the culture of Old World wine production, working closely with his growers for two and sometimes three generations. He is one of the leading exponents of the concept of “terroir”—the notion that a particular vineyard site imparts distinct qualities of bouquet, flavor, and color to a wine. In Reflections of a Wine Merchant, Rosenthal brings us into the cellars, vineyards, and homes of these vignerons, and his delightful stories about his encounters, relationships, and explorations—and what he has learned along the way—give us an unequaled perspective on winemaking tradition and what threatens it today.

Rosenthal was featured in the documentary film Mondovino and is one of the more outspoken figures against globalization, homogenization, and the “critic-ization” of the wine business. He was also a major subject in Lawrence Osborne’s The Accidental Connoisseur. His is an important voice in defense of the individual and the artisanal, and their contribution to our quality of life.

Customer Review: a light read, fairly interesting… 3.5/5
i enjoyed reflections… but i certianly don’t think it’s going to go down as one of the greatest wine books ever written, and i don’t think it makes as much of a statement as it could have.

the book is essentially a collection of stories about people rosenthal has encountered over the years, and how their story fits – or doesn’t fit – into rosenthal’s importing business and view of what the wine world should be. for instance, the story of a family/producer in piedmont embodies everything he loves about wine, while a relationship with a producer in burgundy crumbles as they insist on making changes he doesn’t feel are for the best. the stories are generally interesting, however i don’t feel they’ll appeal to those who aren’t truly interested in the subject matter. (however if you’ve made it to this page, you probably ARE interested in the subject matter.)

i echo the sentiment that rosenthal spends a bit of time ranking on people by name. it’s not really vengeful stuff as some other reviews have implied, but the problem is that it’s not really done with a lot of finesse or class either. it doesn’t portray the author in the best light, and makes you question his own personality to some extent. this doesn’t destroy the book, but it does detract from the experience a bit.

finally, i feel the book doesn’t have a ton of focus. there’s not a really strong thread running through it. i know it’s a collection of stories, but considering the experiences rosenthal has had over the course of the last 30 years, in addition to his very strong feelings about what wine should be, i think the book could have driven home more of a message. maybe rosenthal didn’t want this to be too agenda driven, but i thought the result made it a little light.

all this said, this is worth reading, especially if you’re a fan of rosenthal’s views on what wines should be. come to think of it, you should probably read it if you *don’t* share rosenthal’s views on what wines should be.

Customer Review: Neil Rosenthal is the real deal.
Neal Rosenthal is the real deal, and so is Alice Feiring, whose My Battle for Wine and Love or How I Saved the World from Parkerization. Both echo themes about the authenicity and sense of place in truly great wines and rail against the tragic (for real wine lovers) imposition of industry homogeneousness and wine manipulation over the real thing.

Both these books are deep–not frivolous, as some people would like to paint Alice Feiring’s book–complex and filled with nuances that everyone who really cares about great wine should know and appreciate. Neither book is jammed with appreciation for overripe fruit, residual sugar, palate numbing alcohol levels and, Thank God, neither comes in a horrid new oak binding (barrels where supposed to be aging vessels, not gross flavoring agents that override grape varieties, terroir, etc.).

My prediction is that these two books are going to have an enormous impact on young (and not so young) sommeliers, wine directors and wine buyers (especially non-retail types, who don’t use Parker scores to flog wines), because they both espouse the greatness and distinctiveness of terroir-driven, authentic, artisan wines that have a sense of place. Since these are not mass market Parkerista wines, I think this philosophy will not have an immediate effect on the Parker consumer, but it will have on restaurant wine lists run by younger sommeliers, who believe it or not have been fed up with tasting Parkerista wines for quite some time. They will seek terroir-driven wines to lend distinction to their lists and push these wines as those which help set their wine lists and restaurants apart.

Restaurant goers will discover these wines and begin to look for retail stores that carry them. It will not be long before the already choppy anti-Parkerista waters build into a very big wave, which, pardon me, copycat American wine journalists will soon see as a bandwagon to jump on, at least those who still have a palate left after tasting all the overripe, sweet, over-oaked, alcoholic junk that they have been barraged with over the past decade or so. And with greening and organic movements growing stronger in response to environmental changes, more and more conscientous wine drinkers will begin to question the manipulation of wines.

Neil Rosenthal: “. . . proof that there is some seriously fine terroir to be found in California and elsewhere, terroir that merits being left to express itself rather than being dominated and destroyed by human manipulation in the form of superextraction or immersion in new oak barrels or any of dozens of other laboratory tricks that “correct” what nature gives us.”

Alice Feiring: “. . . At stake is the soul of wine. This is giant corporation vs. independent winemaker. This is international and homogenous vs. local and varied. This manipulated and technical wine vs. natural and artisanal. . .wine is being reduced to the common denominator. . .I visit producers who make wines that inspire love and devotion. . . I unmask the modern way–the reverse osmosis, the tannin addition, the yeasts, the enzymes, the cold soaks, the sawdust, oak chips, the barriques, the micro- and macro-oxygenation, the rotor fermenters, and the cherry drops. There will be scientists and consultants, who help create cookie-cutter wines for the mass palate. I will deal with those who say terroir (the magic that brings soil, climate, vintage, and winemaker together in a bottle of wine) and natural winemaking are simply excuses for making bad wine.”

Neal Rosenthal and Alice Feiring are hero and heroine!!! Buy both these books and take a trip through the world of real wine, you will never turn back.

And as to the reviews that claim Neal Rosenthal’s book is filled with bad writing–sounds like some of you have been drinking too much of the wine that Neal disdains.

Gerry Dawes
Blog: Gerry Dawes’s Spain: An Insider’s Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel.

Bar Wine – Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine: 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style

Wineguy — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:00:28 +0000

Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine: 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style
For the thousands of people who know nothing about wine and want to rectify that swiftly and painlessly, Mark Oldman—the “Naked Chef” of wine—is here to help with the kind of information readers can use right now:
• Australian Shiraz is the most instantly likable red under $15
• Drink slightly sweet wine with spicy food
• Judge a wine shop by whether it has homemade shelf signs
• Don’t store unopened wine in the refrigerator for more than a week

Loaded with his personal recommendations—including the top 100 wines less than $15—Oldman’s Guide also includes the wine picks of an eclectic mix of collectors, from Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni to Morley Safer of 60 Minutes. This is a wine guide like no other and is sure to be savored by anyone who wants their wine without the attitude.

Customer Review: Make it your first book on wine!
If you are buying your first book on wine, let it be this one. I have previously bought some other books that were advertised as aimed towards non professionals, but I found many parts of them very hard to read. Oldman’s guide is worth reading, and it can awaken the love for wine in you. It is made as one or two page shortcuts which you can easily read, grab off the shelf when you feel like it or when you want to know more. This is the ultimate guide for beginners!

Customer Review: Brilliant, Very Funny and Entertaining
Love this! For wine there is no better tome to make you feel like you know what you’re talking about. Mark Oldman is brilliant, very funny and entertaining…and iconoclastic and ironic. The book is SO WELL PACED. Before starting it, I would say I was about a 2 in knowing about wine…now I feel like I’m at 7 or 8.