Customer Reviews

Mastering Wine: A Learner's Manual

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Tom Maresca is a wine writer who generally shys away from going over the top with wine snobbery, and as a result his magazine and newspaper columns are easy, enjoyable, and worthwhile reading. He has very good wine knowledge and could easily speak to the geeks about the terroir of different areas of Bordeaux, but he's just as comfortable coming down off the high horse and addressing the rest of us when we can't decide between a rose from Mateus or Almaden.

Thankfully, Mr. Maresca wrote a wonderful reference back in 1985, that has since been updated. Mastering Wine is broken down into three parts: the first 25 pages deal with the essentials of learning how to taste and properly enjoy wine. The huge second section of the book is nothing but wine flights; that is, two wines paired against each other and compared. The final appendix is a very descriptive chapter on how to read wine labels, broken down by wine region. Overall, I think that this is one of the very first books a wine novice should purchase, for several reasons.

First, it's well written and easy to understand. Secondly, The Dic firmly believes that wine flights are the best way to educate a person's palate, and this book makes it very easy to do the flights on your own, in your home, or with friends. Most of the wines are fairly well known and can be purchased just about anywhere, and are not necessarily expensive (in fact, most of the flights consist of wines under $15).

Learning how to taste wine---which really is training your nose and palate to appreciate the subtle, beautiful nuances of fine wine---can be extremely difficult, especially when you don't have a decent tutor to teach you what to look for. Since we can't all afford to have The Dic make house calls, I highly recommend this book as the next best thing. Consider a self-help book for wine.

The Wine Dictator.

This book is especially geared to help people developing their palatte in pursuit of greater enjoyment and comfort with wine. It's not full of jargon and it's very user friendly. It breaks down the tasting process in different tasting sessions in a hands-on format. One is meant to drink the described wines while using the book. The tastings start at simple and obvious differences between wines and gradually get more advanced and nuanced. My only complaint is that this 1992 edition bases its tastings on wines which are not always easily available anymore.

Fun! Indeed, the book begins with the author's statement that (Page 3): "This is a do-it-yourself wine book--a teach yourself project. The first premise is that wine is fun." The book is based on comparisons between two wines--and this is done 39 times, featuring reds and whites and roses and sparkling drinks. The first section focuses on getting introduced to wine (such as what one needs to do the comparisons).

Some of the comparisons are kind of interesting to me, since I have tasted at least one of the wines. For instance, Jadot Beaujolais (1990) and Sutter Home California Zinfandel (1989). I really enjoy the Beaujolais and find the comparison as described in the book intriguing. Or Mouton Cadet (1988) versus Beaulieu Vineyard Beautour Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (1989). On occasion (more so in the past than now), I enjoyed Mouton Cadet (also selected by George in an episode of "Seinfeld").

Whites? One comparison of interest to me: Trimbach Alsace Riesling (1988) and Trefethen Napa Valley White Riesling (1989). I have enjoyed the Trimbach greatly, so the comparison meant something to me. Sparkling wines? Freixnet versus Korbel? I've had both and don't really enjoy either. On the other hand, another comparison features Veuve Clicquot Brut, versions of which I have enjoyed greatly.

All in all, lots of fun reading this book. And the suggestions for tasting are entertaining.