Alpana Pours: About Being a Woman, Loving Wine, and Having Great Relationships [Paperback]

Alpana Singh (Author), Robert Scarola (Collaborator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Alpana Pours is a unique lifestyle book with wine as the centerpiece. Since American women purchase and consume more wine than American men, 77% and 60% respectively, a voice is needed to help women understand that their busy professional and social lifestyles can be well paired with wine. Master Sommelier and successful television host Alpana Singh, 29, is just the person to help them do it.

Alpana is uniquely qualified to talk about wine, contemporary women and relationships. She spent five years as sommelier at a world-famous four star restaurant, where she closely observed the sometimes humorous, sometimes absurd, social interactions between men and woman at all stages of their relationships.

Readers will learn how to select wine when entertaining important clients, pair wine with food they and their partner are preparing together, choose the right wines for special occasions--weddings, anniversaries, bridal showers, a first meeting with a boyfriend's parents--and what wine to, or not to, order on a first date. Alpana Pours supplies tips on these and a myriad of other topics including "dating" and "dealing with guys."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the youngest woman to be a member of the exclusive Court of Master Sommeliers, Singh brings her extensive knowledge of wine to a new generation of wine drinking women. Singh's quirky writing makes reading about the correct wine and food pairing more fun than it should be, with titles like, "Wine Tasting Your Way to Mr. Right," "Shoes You Never Wear and Wine You Never Drink," and "White Flight," about men's avoidance of white wines. "From the Alpana Files," periodically interrupts the shop talk and traces Singh's personal history of her love of wine, including how she broke her career decision to her very surprised mother (she expected Singh to pursue medicine). The book features a detailed list of exemplary wine regions, suggestions for entertaining with wine and a very useful guide to finding good cheap wines. One of the more invaluable tools Singh includes is a key deciphering restaurant wine lists. Singh blends wine culture with everyday life, while still illuminating the mysteries and myths of wine. The author's friendly tone welcomes readers who don't know their pinot noir from their peanut butter.
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About the Author

Alpana Singh became, at the age of 27, the youngest woman ever to be inducted into the Court of Master Sommeliers. She is host of Check Please!, a restaurant critique TV show which has won two Emmy Awards. Alpana has been featured in a number of newspapers and magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Wine Spectator, Jane, Wine and Spirits Magazine, Real Simple, Food and Wine Magazine, Bon Appétit, Everyday Day with Rachael Ray, as well as the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and many others. She is also the winner of a number of wine awards.He frequently appears on radio and television and in newspaper articles about food, lifestyle and dining trends.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897335465
• ISBN-13: 978-0897335461
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars practical, unpretentious, fun wine advice. People! It's only a beverage. October 30, 2006

By accidental gourmet

Format:Paperback

I know a thing or two about wine although I don't have wine fetish. This was the most readable and enjoyable book on wine. Many other books I've looked at made my eyes glaze over with the over-detailed, dry, technical explanations. This book was a revelation. I read it cover to cover in two nights flat. It is knowlegeable and provides practical advice. It is unpretentious, sassy, and doesn't assume prior knowlege, and it's fun! (What other wine book would give you a Master Sommelier's advice for pairing wine with potato chips or Pecans and Pralines Hagen Das?) It was a fun read, and I'm keeping it as a reference. The sub title of "about being a woman" is unfortunate because I think a lot of men would benefit from the advice given in the book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book; the perfect antidote to pretentious wine snobbery May 21, 2007

By Jason Seagraves VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've read three books on wine, and this is by far my favorite. Even though it is primarily geared toward women (and I'm all man, baby), male wine novices will also enjoy it, because the overriding theme is that wine does not have to be complicated - it only has to be fun and enjoyable. The prose is written in a lighthearted style that makes reading it a breeze. ALPANA POURS is educational without going too deeply into wine esoterics that only confuse most aspiring oenophiles. I will admit that some chapters - such as when Ms. Singh selects a wine for each zodiac sign - are a little airy, but all in all, this was a fun and informative read. Oh, and by the way - the wine chosen for my zodiac (Syrah) turned out to be a new favorite!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Practical Advice November 14, 2008

By Christine Zibas VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"Alpana Pours" is not like any wine book you're likely to see mixed into the endless pages about wine on Amazon. Instead of overwhelming you with arcane facts and vintages, Alpana Singh (TV hostess of Chicago's "Check Please" restaurant review show on PBS) has written a lifestyle book centered on the subject of feeling comfortable around wine. It seems that for most people, wine can be a little intimidating. Most of us go to a nice restaurant, get handed a wine list, and then proceed to squirm in our seats, unsure what to order yet wishing to appear confident that the wine we select will be worth the big bucks we will pay out to enjoy this pleasure.

Alpana has taken all of the mystery, but none of the fun, out of enjoying wine. Noting that 77 percent of American women buy and consume wine, she has chosen this group to focus on in her book, although her lessons (and wine tricks) will be just as usable by the male species.

Singh worked for years at one of Chicago's most glamorous (and expensive) restaurants, Everest, as a Master Sommelier before taking on the role of TV show hostess. Engaged in the business of wine from an early age, she relates to young women and their tastes and anxieties. She breaks down wine into easy-to-use categories, while never diminishing the complexity of her subject. Instead, she presents tools to show her readers how to select a wine depending on their own tastes, for food pairing, for party purchases, and for the sheer enjoyment of a great glass at home.

This is a wonderful book for anyone (and that probably includes most of us) who wants to know more about wine, how to choose it and enjoy it to the fullest capacity. This makes a fun gift for the holidays or would make a great housewarming present. While everyone may not care about the dating and relationship information that makes up a share of the book, there is so much practical knowledge about enjoying wine that it would be easy to skip over and get to the heart of the subject.

Singh addresses wines at all price levels. She talks about how to get the best out of a cheap bottle, which glasses and gadgets you really need, how to determine which wine would work best at various meals (including something as perplexing as a potluck!), and a host of other topics that you will put to good use on a regular basis. "Alpana Pours" is a tiny gem in a sea of wine tomes, and there isn't a higher recommendation than that!

Christine Zibas, Book Pleasures