Customer Reviews

The Sommelier's Guide to Wine

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I knew virtually nothing about wine prior to reading this, but since I wanted to educate myself on wine tasting (and avoid feeling like a total dolt at restaurants), I picked this handy book up to give myself a lesson. I would recommend this book to beginners, or anyone who wants to refresh their knowledge of wine. Or, anyone who's interested in the history of wine, its production, areas of production, etc. For a relatively small volume, this covers those topics pretty thoroughly. I'd imagine that wine experts would find at least half of this book--if not all--pretty tedious, as it covers a lot of beginner concepts.

One thing I appreciated a lot was Smith's inclusion of pronunciation guides. He writes in a clear, effective, unpretentious manner that made it easy to understand and absorb information. The major topics that Smith covers: how to taste, wines by type, label reading, areas of production, how to order/match with food, what to do and what not to do, buying and storing, vintage charts.

I kind of wish there were more pictures (the pages are colored, but there are barely any pictures in here). Overall, a handy quick guide to wine tasting, would definitely recommend, especially as a gift to those starting to acquaint themselves with the world of wine.

As a sommelier this is a nice book to have for quick resource. Particularly, I really like the quick reference to the French region and the different villages with their respective grapes that they grow.

I liked the book very much. For those who don't have any knowledge of the world of wine as me, I considered this book a greateful introduction to the subject.
The author made use of a collocquial speech in writing the book. So, it looks like he's talking to you, which turns the reading a greateful conversation, certainly a consequence of the author's teaching experience.
I found the book complete for what I expected to learn about wine. I recommend it strongly for those who wants a didatic introduction to the subject and also for those who are afraid of reading a bore text about it. The book has also an interesting format, which eases hand or bag transportation. Although not being colorful, I found the book well designed for easy reading.