Customer Reviews

Wine For Dummies

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I was always intimdated by the thought of ordering and buying wine. Wine for Dummies opened the door to a whole new world of experiences. This book helped me understand the different types, vintages, and tastes of wine. It gives clear information and explanations, and answers most any question you could have on the subject of wines. With this book as your guide, you will have no problem navigating a wine list in a restaurant, or the aisles of your local wine shop. There is information on pairing wine and food, how to serve wine, and how to store it. It is the most complete book on wine that I have read to date.

I found that it was easiest to concentrate on one section at a time, rather than to try to read and understand everything at once. Also, it was kind of fun reading one section, then trying some of the wines suggested by the authors, or simply trying the different kinds of wine in the section. The authors really know their wines.

This book will easily become the one you refer to most. It is concise, well-organized and easy to follow.

If your idea of a good wine means that it doesn't have ascrew top, but you genuinely want to learn more about thecorked types, this is the book for you! This books takes much of the mystery out of WHY wine snobs do some of that silly looking stuff while at the same time pointing out which of those things are worth the effort and which aren't.

Additionally, it turned out to be an invaluable reference for starting to look at the shelves in the local liquor store. The time prior to reading this book, I picked wines based on who had the prettiest label - while I did get one really good wine out of that batch, it wasn't a very dependable method. The next trip, I took a list I had made from this book and have been MUCH happier with the results.

In the end, this is an excellent reference book and a does a great job of demystifying the rites and ritual of wine. I highly recommend it!

Wine can be mystifying. There are countless names of wines, some indicating the grape used, some the place, some both. A Chardonnay is a wine made from that grape, unless it's being used in a region of France, in which case it's called Chablis. Some wine is ready to drink when you buy it, but others need 10-20 years of aging. The bottle doesn't have a "drink by" date on it! For people looking to travel this confusing landscape, and even for long-time drinkers who wish to learn more, Wine for Dummies is a fascinating way to delve into the world of wine.

What other manual has 5th Wave cartoons scattered throughout it, and sections named "Pinot Envy"? The tone of the manual is lighthearted but very informative. It starts with the basics of wine - what is a red, white, and rose wine, and a quick description of how each is made. It goes into tasting wine - how to best get the flavors out of a wine, and how to describe the wine to others in a way they might understand.

Next the various terms are discussed - blending, filtering, and so on. Grapes are described, with descriptions of how they have different flavors depending on where they are planted. Notes describe how organic farming, sulfites, and tannins are involved in grape-growing.

One section goes in depth into the whole wine-naming dilemma, describing various place names and what grapes are used there. Another section goes step-by-step through the normal process of ordering wine in a restaurant, and dealing with the waiter's presentation.

The language of labels is described, from Californian labels where usually the grape name and winery name are important, to European wines where typically the location and year are prominent. Varieties of labels are described, with notes on what to watch for.

The manual goes into each wine making region - France, Italy, Spain, the US, and many others - describing what wines are typical there, what makes the region unique, what to watch for. A special section on Champagne goes over the methode champenoise and how similar methods are used in many countries. Good Champagnes to try in the various styles are listed out for reference.

In general, Wine for Dummies covers just about any questions a newcomer to wine would have, and does so in an easy to understand and fun manner. I'd highly recommend this to all wine newbies!

I read this book when I was first beginning to experience the wonderful world of wine, and it has been a great resource for me. A quick read, the book is organized into chapters on choosing wines at shops and restaurants, where and how wines are made, choosing wine to go with food, and descriptive terms for wine. (They even have pronunciations for wine terms. No more looking stupid at dinner parties!) Also, the book touches on some of the major wine-makers that it pays to be familiar with.

I really like the attitude that the authors take towards the subject matter. They seem to think (as I do) that wine is not a snobby subject to learn about. It's about something most of us are already familiar with - what tastes we like and don't like. Easy, huh? They emphasize that wine is to be enjoyed, not agonized over.

I like the way the content is interspersed with funny comics, highlighted tips, and even little technical blurbs about wine. (There are also "snob alerts" throughout the book! They address some of the attitudes self-proclaimed "wine experts" sometimes express. What a hoot!)

All in all, a great read. Based on the book's advice, I bought a small, pocket-sized wine book. When I'm out at a restaurant or party and I taste something I like, I jot it down in the book for future reference. Then, I use the book when I go to the wine shop or when I'm eating out. Great suggestion!

About six years ago, I first caught the wine bug. A novice at the time, I recall that perusing wine shops was both a joyful and dreadful experience. Just trying to decipher the information (in foreign languages, most) on one wine-label was daunting enough, let alone trying to pick a good wine from the hundreds lining the aisles. Today, I am fortunate enough to work in a wine shop, and I can easily spot the same dread on my customers faces. Wine is supposed to be fun, right? So why is it so dang complicated?!

What got me safely from the "novice" to the "intermediate" stage - and what I tell customers might well do the same for them - is Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan's book "Wine for Dummies." This is the single best beginners guide to wine I've seen on the market, then and now. It strikes a perfect balance between informality and informativity, casualness and usefulness. Delving into everything from how to shop for, open, and taste wines, to explaining the basics of what the different grapes are and which regions excel in each, there is a lot of ground covered in an easy to digest style. (There is even attention paid to that often missed detail of how to pronounce intimidating wine terms like Qualitatswein and - my favorite - Trockenbeerenauslese.)

Thus, six years after I first caught the wine bug, I still find myself skimming these pages for their straight-forward and concise answers to the many questions the world of wine throws at me. Hopefully, it will do for you what it did for me: take an utter novice and turn him into an unbridled wine enthusiast without causing too much of a mental headache along the way (as some books do). This is why I reccomend the book to my customers and why I unhesitatingly reccomend it to you!

When I was a kid and I got to go out for dinner with my folks, I remember my dad teaching me how to choose a wine. He showed me how to select a wine according to what we were having for dinner, demonstrated swirling and sniffing techniques, and discussed the local California wineries. It was great!

Then I grew up and forgot most of what he told me.

The good news is that this book contains everything my dad told me and more! But what I liked best about this book (besides the refresher course) was that it was written in an easy-to-follow, matter-of-fact manner. The tips were practical, the commentary was light-hearted, and at times I almost felt like I was reading instructions written especially for me by a friend.

A definite "must-have" for anyone who wants to add a bit of practical culture to his or her repertoire!

OK, I admit it. I hate these damn idiot books... but this one is great. I hate the ones I browse through in the bookstores on topics on which I know something. Perhaps that's why I loved this one? I've been into wine for a couple of years but knew almost nothing. One could say I was prepared to read this book then. Nevertheless, the book was precisely what I was looking for. It covered the whole kit and kaboodle, from the making of wine to the different sensations associated with different wine types to wine areas to how to order it in a restaurant. There's just tons of myths and disinformation out there about wine, and this book exposes them all. Truly a great one in my humble opinion.