Customer Reviews

A Taste For Wine: 20 key tastings to unlock your personal wine style

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Mr. Gasnier is a master sommelier. He has a vast wine tasting experience and tries to break down 20 different categories for the amateur.

Mr. Gasnier creates 9 categories: 1. light, crisp whites; 2. juicy, aromatic whites; 3. full, opulent whites; 4. rose; 5. fruity, lively reds; 6. ripe, smooth reds; 7. rich, dense reds; 8. sparkling; 9. sweet and fortified.

For each category, he makes generic and then specific suggestions. For example for "Fruity, lively reds", he suggests Pinot Noir, Jura Poulsard, Sancerre Rouge, Cotes du Frontonnais, Saumur-Champigny/Chinon, and Beaujolais. He has "sub-chapters" to explore dimensions of what each category means. For example, the sub-chapters for "Fruity, lively reds" are "Taste Test: Fruit" which explores what the terms "fruity" and "lively" mean.

"Taste Test: Vinification" explores how winemaking techniques alter fruitiness in wine, and "Taste Test: Climate" explores the effect of climate on Pinot Noir fruitiness. Beyond the style chapters there are sections on the history of wine, grape varieties, climate and weather, soil, viticulture, and vinification as well as some food and wine pairings. All these sub tastings add up to all the key tastings that are suppose to unlock your personal wine style.

For me I'm not to the point that I can tell the difference in the "climate" of Pinot Noirs. I still need to learn the basics of Pinot Noir. But for the wine lover who has mastered the basics this book would certainly bring your palate to a new level. I would definitely suggest it. If you're just starting out I would go with A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season or The Wine Club: A Month-by-Month Guide to Learning About Wine with Friends for the beginners.

Also, many of the wines suggested in this book were only available through mail order or in country only. It would be difficult for the "average" wine lover to find many of the wine suggested. If you just go with suggested regions you'd be OK but might lose some of the purpose of having this book then. This book is not my first source of information on wines but I will use it as a supplement.

My primary source is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine Basics, 2nd Edition. I hope that helps. The pictures are excellent and of high quality. The pictures of the author himself appear to all be him in the same clothes, some with his jacket on and some with his jacket off. Many of the pictures are exactly the same and printed on different pages, some smaller than the original print.