Pairing Wine and Food: A Handbook for All Cuisines [Paperback]

Linda Johnson-Ball (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 14, 1999

With its comprehensive, ready-reference lists of food and their complementary wines, Pairing Wine and Food will show you how to match the right wine to any dish.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This compact and comprehensive work rejects the notion that pairing wine with food is as simplistic as matching red with meat and white with chicken. Rather, it is a dish's flavors--sweet, sour, spicy, and salty--that must guide wine selection. Using this premise, Johnson-Bell, a wine journalist and panel judge, has written a handy guide explaining the tastes and aromas of wine and food and how this knowledge enhances the enjoyment of both. While much of the material has been seen before--e.g., charts of wine smells and varietals--this book makes excellent and unique contributions: a fairly exhaustive cross-referencing of wines and their perfect gastronomical partners (including cheeses and mushrooms), a table matching herbs and spices with wines, and the admission that, in the final analysis, champagne goes with anything. Useful for everyone from beginning oenophiles to restaurateurs, this is a highly recommended bargain for all collections.
-Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., KY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Much has been written about the interrelationships between food and wine. Johnson-Bell approaches the subject from the perspective of a consumer for whom wine is the central focus. The point of matching foods to wines is primarily one of personal taste, but there are some general guidelines to prevent unpleasant clashing of flavors. As the author points out, the growing popularity of non-European cuisines has made food-wine matching even more problematic. Nevertheless, there are some thoughtful ways to go about picking a wine to accompany those enchiladas or that pad thai. Johnson-Bell writes clearly about how food flavors affect the way wine is perceived and vice versa. For those who want simply some prescriptive advice, this book offers long lists of foods matched to appropriate wines. Her tables of wine names and the grapes that go into them are also useful for reference. Mark Knoblauch

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Burford Books (December 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580800378
• ISBN-13: 978-1580800372
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,092,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommend, April 19, 2003

By 

"enodotcomboss" (WASHINGTON, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pairing Wine and Food: A Handbook for All Cuisines (Paperback)

I was pleasanlty surprised by this book. I was just looking for guidelines in paring food and wine, but what I got was the most comprehensive, information on grape varieties, styles of wines, wine making, tasting guidelines, and more. The Taste of Wine section was so chock full of information, it covered more than I got from the 10 or more wine books I currently have in my library. I never knew there were so many varieties of wines! The Wine and Food section is exhaustive and a must for any foodie. I feel so much more informed on my favorite subject(s). I liked this book so much I just purchased a second copy for a friend. This book will benefit any budding oenophile or experienced wine lover, not to mention foodie. Hats of to Ms. Johnson-Bell

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adequate, December 19, 2002

By 

Randy Given (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pairing Wine and Food: A Handbook for All Cuisines (Paperback)

The sections on pairing wines with food and pair foods with wine are good -- simple tables that make it easy to look things up. The categories are just the right size (some other books are either too broad or too detailed). However, the reasoning at how to pair without a table is only so-so. The author goes to great extent (too far?) pointing out her qualifications and experience with doing this, but is it necessary? A good one-third of the book could be dropped without noticing. I would only keep the one-third with the tables. Regardless, it is one that I will continue to refer to when I want new ideas or confirmation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good But Not Great, November 3, 2009

By 

A Reviewer (DeWitt, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pairing Wine and Food: A Handbook for All Cuisines (Paperback)

The Good:
1) The tables showing food and wine pairings are well organized and generally useful.
2) The author is knowledgeable about the topic of pairing food with wine. I did agree with most (but not all) of her pairings.
The Not So Good:
1) Way too Francocentric. Most of the food and wine pairings are based on French wines while wines from the New World and elsewhere are given short shrift. Many of the French wines she mentions are very expensive and/or difficult for most North Americans to obtain. They are therefore unlikely to be a frequent accompaniment to a meal.
2) There are some factual inaccuracies. Her description of where we experience different flavors on the tongue is wrong. For example, we do not experience bitter tastes on the undersurface of the tongue, they are primarily experienced at the back (posterior aspect of the oral part).
3) The author's voice as a writer often seems somewhat snobby and self important.
Despite these shortcomings, I gave it four stars because of the value of the tables.