Wine for Dummies [Paperback]

Ed McCarthy (Author), Mary Ewing-Mulligan (Author)

Book Description

Series: For Dummies | Publication Date: August 29, 1995

This work takes readers on a tour of the basics of wine tasting. It covers how to open a bottle properly, how to read a wine menu, how to taste wine and how to distinguish good wine from bad. It also looks at the different wine regions of the world, and examines the various grape varieties.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Wine for Dummies, Mary Ewing-Mulligan teams up with hubby and fellow wine educator Ed McCarthy to guide us on an exhaustive, entertaining trip around the enological--that's right, enological--world. Though clearly experts themselves (Ewing-Mulligan is one of a handful of Americans holding the rare title Master of Wine), the authors assure us that even the most basic knowledge will undermine the very notion of wine pretension. It's as simple as this: "This wine is named for a grape variety. This wine is named for a geographical region. When they make this kind of wine, it goes into this kind of bottle." And so on.

By providing the context in which to begin exploring wine, Wine for Dummies can easily become the send-off for a lifelong education. McCarthy and Mulligan deflate many of the wine snob's attitudes; they assure us that most wine sold today is "good wine," and that any further distinctions made about wine are ultimately subjective. The practical, jovial mentoring the authors provide encourages readers to chart their own course toward drinking great wine (although the authors naturally recommend dozens of their own favorites along the way). In later chapters, McCarthy and Mulligan delve into more serious topics such as investing in and cellaring wine. Even these discussions seem appropriate, given that you'll probably find the allure of wine growing as its mystery subsides to the force of this superb introductory text. --Todd Gehman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“…friendly un-intimidating guide to all there is to know about wine…” (Irish News, 14th August 2004)

“…the no-nonsense guide to buying, storing serving and talking about wine…” (Choice Magazine, May 2004) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Hungry Minds Inc (August 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568843909
• ISBN-13: 978-1568843902
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,259,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

203 of 206 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quick, fun, easy way to understanding wines, December 21, 1999

By 

"downtoearthguy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wine for Dummies (Paperback)

This book offers an excellent introduction into wines. If you know little about wines, but want a quick, fun and easy way to learn, this book is for you. After reading this book, I was able to talk intelligently about the different varieties of wines, how wine is made and how to taste wines. This book has improved my social and professional life. At business dinners, I'm able to talk about wines and navigate through the wine list intelligently. On the social front, I recently held an amatuer wine tasting at my house and it was big success. One chapter in the book explains all the attributes and nuances you could sense in a wine. I organized the attributes with the descriptions in a table, with a few blank columns for wine tasting notes. My guests were entertained and educated at the same time.

The writing is clear and concise. The authors do not take a snobby attitude towards tasting; throughout the book, they emphasize that good wine is primarily determined by personal choice. They give you the tools to learn to taste and enjoy wine.

I read at an average rate. In about 2 hours, I was able to talk intelligently about the wine making process, understand how to taste wines, and navigate around wine shops. This book should be read over a period of several weeks so that you can actually practice what you've read. The only drawback with this book is that there are no colorful pictures and they weren't very explicit about which flavors to concentrate on while drinking different wine varieties.

Overall, this book is excellent for beginners. After reading the first few chapters, you'll go from beginner to an intermediate wine buff. I even purhased several of these books for my friends as Christmas gifts!

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not great, September 24, 2006

By 

r (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wine For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback)) (Paperback)

This was my first book on wine. I've read numerous books on beer, so that was my background coming into the book.

There's a lot of info in the book, but I feel like there is too little practical info and too much "academic" info.

Indeed, three-forths of the book are devoted to the history and geography of wines. Don't get me wrong, this stuff is extremely important; it is the geography and the winery which makes the wine what it is. The problem is that in this regard, the book reads more like "Wine for Experts" than "Wine for Dummies".

In a book for complete novices, you would expect a table, chart, or other easy-to-read section on all of the major types of wine, broken down by various properties such as appearance, smell, taste, etc. "What's a Chardonnay? What's Pinot Noir?" But there isn't anything like that. There are a couple of pages which briefly mention three to four of the most popular varietals in both white and red, but that's it. There's a short section on how to smell/taste wine, which is good, but then you're left to page after page of French legal classification systems and all kinds of other stuff.

Again, that "stuff" is important, and I'm glad it's in there, but it's kinda difficult to get a *basic* grasp on wine by reading all of the expert material, when they never gave you a halfway decent foundation to start with (and I even speak French; if you don't, it will be an even steeper learning curve). And that is my problem with this book.

This is an okay book, but if one of my friends asked, I could not honestly recommend it to someone who knows absolutely nothing about wine. If you already have a fair amount of experience with wine, then you will be okay with this book, but if you are a complete beginner, I would recommend something more basic, because this book really isn't for "dummies" in the subject.

86 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best overall book on wine I've read, May 25, 2001

By 

M. H. Bayliss "book queen" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wine for Dummies (Paperback)

I'm not an expert oeneophile (in fact, I can't even spell it), but I am an interested amateur who has read about 5 basic books on wine ranging from Parkers famous one to lesser known tomes (the Windows on the World one is good too). I think this dummies book offers the least pretentious and most concise overall guide to wine. It does cover a lot of ground which is why the same authors have separate books on white and red wines. On the bright side, you'll learn about every major grape variety and region in the wine world and how to find great bargains. I really enjoyed the tone and attitude -- the authors clearly know a lot, but make it clear that you don't have to be a wine snob to really enjoy wine.