Thirsty Work [Paperback]

Matt Skinner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2005

This is a book about wine, Pure and Simple. It will arm you with a little more wine confidence, knowledge, and enthusiasm. Packed with user-friendly information and all the tricks you could ever want to be able to say, "I know enough to know what I like." Thirsty Work celebrates wine and all that goes into making it and all who are involved in sharing it. Matt Skinner has a broad background in teaching the subject of wine and is wine manager of Jamie Oliver's famous London restaurant, Fifteen. Based on the way he teaches the subject of wine to his students he breaks down all the key topics-from drinking, choosing, and tasting to the key red and white grapes to where and how wine is made to the range of soft, serious, and fizzy styles. And, his 24-hour faces of wine features all the people who are involved in bringing wine to your table. Serious but unpretentious, inspiring and fun, Skinner presents his subject on a unique and personal level in everyday terms.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Skinner is the wine manager of Fifteen, the London restaurant run by Jamie Oliver. With Oliver's name appearing twice on the front cover (and thrice on the back cover of the review copy), Skinner appears to be grabbing his friend's apron strings and hoping to ride this occasionally interesting treatise on wine up the bestseller list. In an overly conscious effort to avoid sounding snobbish or pretentious, "awesome" and "mind-blowing" become adjectives of choice while authoritativeness sometimes gives way to bad puns or too simple declaratives: "Talk about keeping it in the family. Pinot Blanc is the distant love child of Pinot Gris." There are six essential chapters. "Basics" could be called Grapes 101, while "Toolbox" is an explanation of how to use the nose, mouth and eyes in wine appreciation, and "Fruit" provides brief, useful descriptions for dozens of wines, with each entry including a phonetic pronunciation, followed by musings on the style and taste of the wine, as well as a somewhat random "f.y.i." paragraph (e.g., we learn that Merlot is "an incredibly 'gluggable' variety"). The remaining chapters cover the growing of grapes, how various wines are actually made and a nicely thought-out geographical survey of all the major wine regions. Photos. (Oct.)
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Review

"Wine is a bit like music or art. What you and I like might be two completely different things, but at the end of the day neither one of us is right, we just have different tastes.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; 1St Edition edition (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762425334
• ISBN-13: 978-0762425334
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,539,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Armchair Afficianados, May 6, 2007

By 

Steven D. Ward "Editor" (Seoul, South Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirsty Work (Paperback)

I've just recently become interested in wine and I'm trying to learn enough to keep up with my girlfriend. I spotted this book when I was with her at the Seoul Wine Expo and picked it up.

Aside from being happy to find a decent introductory book about wine in English, I thought the book was a very accessible read that didn't overwhelm too much. I'm sure I'll re-read parts of it in the near future as I try more wines.

I have just two criticisms. 1: it could use a little more substantive information, but overall I thought it struck a nice balance. The design of the book and the pictures helped to create an enticing feeling towards wine in general that helped me to want to go out and experience more. 2) I found the writing style of the book artificial in some places. I appreciate that the author wants the book to be accessible and not snobby at all, but the jokes seemed forced except in a couple places, where I did laugh at them. It could also be a cultural difference though.

If you're looking for a comprehensive guide that's going to teach you everything, this probably isn't the right book for you. But if you're brand new to wine, like me, and want to learn what you can without getting overwhelmed, then this is a good start I think. I'm happy with the purchase even though I paid a significant mark up on the other side of the planet from where it was published.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Does this guy want to be Jamie Oliver or what!, March 13, 2006

By 

aleaver "aleaver" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirsty Work (Paperback)

I bought this book because I thought that it looked fun, but to be honest it is just a carbon copy of a Jamie Oliver style book. In my opinion there are much better books out there. Start-off by reading anything by Jancis Robinson, rather than this poor effort.

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality content accented with serious gusto., August 5, 2009

By 

H. Lyon (Morgan Hill, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirsty Work (Paperback)

As a novice to the nuances of wine, I found this book to be a great introduction to the wide world of wine. It profiles grape types and tasting elements, and also gives great information and insight into the production of wine from harvesting to producing. It has become a part of my go-to library for wine terms and especially for grape profiles. Skinner has that part of the book set up really easily with headers of style, taste, and f.y.i. about each.

Matt Skinner has a knack for communicating information simply but sensibly, and also has a knack for using exclamation points for practically every other sentence. This is why I give the book four stars! Skinner's jolly, excited tones had me scattered at times! As I would read this book before bedtime! Perhaps it is a generation gap thing and blog style writing is something that the younger set find agreeable, but for me the excessive exclamation points and chilled out verbiage of Matt's writing were grating at times. Overall though, really, this book is a great choice, and would be an excellent gift for a young person getting into wine (18 to 25-ish). It has a nice large size and great photographs (if not, at times a little cheesy, but that is forgivable).