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A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season [Hardcover]

Tyler Colman
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)


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Hardcover, November 11, 2008 --  
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Book Description

November 11, 2008
A lively and informative guide to a year of wine enjoyment and appreciation from acclaimed wine expert and blogger Tyler Colman, aka "Dr. Vino"

In A Year of Wine, award-winning educator Tyler "Dr. Vino" Colman, whose wine blog was hailed by Food & Wine magazine as "one of the seven best," views winter, spring, summer, and fall through the glass of his favorite impact-resistant stemware, pairing each month with its perfect ports, Pinots, and bubblies -- and offering good value recommendations for them all. Throughout, Colman reminds readers to try to pair their pours with context, which is wildly underrated when it comes to enjoying your favorite bottle. And while people tend naturally to drink lighter, more refreshing wines during the warm months and heavier, more serious wines during the winter months, Colman takes the seasonal approach a step further by offering innovative recommendations and enlightening facts that will allow readers to impress their friends for twelve months straight.

Is there a perfect wine to serve with chips and salsa on Super Bowl Sunday? Which bottles will help you drown away your tax- day blues without blowing your new budget? Colman answers these questions and much more as he pairs wines with each season, occasion, and moment. Recommending thoughtful and affordable wines for special celebrations and everyday enjoyment, offering tips on beginning a wine collection or spring cleaning the one you have, exploring how to drink with the smallest possible carbon footprint, and explaining how to maximize your wine experience when you dine out, Colman makes wine easy to understand and, most important, to savor.

Colman also shares the secret gems of his favorite wine tourism destinations -- where to find the best wine shops in Paris, which Portuguese vintners still crush grapes with their bare feet, and how you can take a ten-tasting-room tour with one stop in a tiny Oregon town -- and turns to some of the country's top sommeliers for their take on wine appreciation as well.

Perfect for both seasoned wine enthusiasts and oenophobes, A Year of Wine is an innovative approach that will encourage readers to drink outside the bottle.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Editorial Reviews

Review

"Usually, I feel as though reading about wine instead of drinking it is a bit like going to the Playboy mansion bound, gagged and blindfolded. But that's never been the case for Tyler Colman's writing, whether it's his books or his blog. This is fun, inspiring stuff that'll make you excited about wine, not send you running, screaming from it."-- Eric Arnold, author of First Big Crush: The Down and Dirty on Making Great Wine Down Under

"Here is an approach to wine sure to open a lot of people's eyes to a lot of pleasure. It replaces the numerical scoring system with some strongly flavored common sense. And it answers the question: what is the best way to enjoy wine."-- Kermit Lynch, wine importer and author of Adventures on the Wine Route and Inspiring Thirst

"To me, nothing says 'summer' like a big, sweet, alcohol-rich glass of Amarone alongside a briny bowl of linguine and clams. I'm just kidding. That would be disgusting. This is Tyler Colman's point and it's a good one: Wine is all about place and context. Lots of books give you the 'whats' of wine, but this one gives you the 'whens,' 'wheres' and 'whys' as well."-- David Lynch, co-author of Vino Italiano and The Wine Snob's Dictionary

"A Year of Wine offers a unique way to enjoy and appreciate wine. As a world traveler I will follow Tyler Colman's advice next time I'm enjoying the sunset on the Caribbean coast of my native Venezuela or looking at the beautiful red roofs of Florence, Italy. Choosing the perfect wine for a special occasion is like selecting the perfect pitch to hit an RBI double with men in scoring position." -- Bobby Abreu, starting right fielder, New York Yankees --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Gallery Books (November 11, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416948155
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416948155
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
(30)
4.4 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Tyler Colman, aka "Dr. Vino", does a very nice job of covering the major types of varietals and key wine regions in the world in this book. The book takes the point of view of matching up wines with the seasons which makes sense as people tend to like certain styles and flavors based on the season.

The style of writing is easy reading but does have plenty of useful content for a wide range of people's wine knowledge. Each seasons/months entries include recommended wines, wineries, regions and some useful trips to enjoying wine such as how to chill a bottle of wine in 5 minutes. He also has entries from various sommeliers for each season/month so you have several points of view on the topics being discussed for the season. He includes most of the latest topics in the wine world -- retail, production and collecting.

The books makes me want to read "Dr. Vino" blog regularly and I make wine for a living! The organization of the book is well thought out and visually appealing to read.

If you are interesting in get a well-rounded overview of the wine world and what varietals are hot right now, I would strongly suggest that you read this book with bottle of your favorite wine! Who knows you might get inspired to try some new wines!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars If you like Dr. Vino's blog, stick with it December 30, 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
"A Year of Wine" comes in time for the new year. He maps out wine travel, selections and other themes across your calendar. Mr. Coleman has quite a bit of information to give you. A large portion is meant for today and this year. He uncorks two guiding themes that he terms: "Call for Context" and "Drink Different". Alliteration seems not lost on this PhD (hence Dr. Vino). This guy is something of a big deal. Besides his top rated blog, he teaches (according to the jacket) wine classes at two really big deal private universities, Chicago and New York.

He takes us to his Caribbean vacation incident. He was at a "swanky" restaurant (by which he means a color-free tent with techo music, perhaps by Dieter and Der Sprokets), where he was disappointed by the big hot California reds that some see as all the rage now. He thinks they need a fireplace in the cold background. I was surprised he did not understand their ability to stand up to the strong spices of some of that cuisine, especially after sunset. Light and fruity by day is true enough, but his axe-grinding is, well, just that and not useful to the beginner.

His two themes do not play well, context and different. In Southern France, where he loves his rose wine in warm weather is perhaps his epitome of NOT "drinking different". And why French wine is less enjoyable in Chicago is beyond me. Also, the French have a long tradition of not drinking different (sic). They always like rose in warm weather and Champagne in months containing vowels.

He also confuses context with terroir, that big buzz word. I believe he knows the difference, but he is not careful enough to say. For some reason, he throws into his topic of terroir, the movie "Sideways", where it is somehow wrong to drink a 1961 Cheval Blanc in California, wronger still to have it with a hamburger and wrongest most from a styrofoam cup. Context? perhaps Terroir? never. Drinking Different? you tell me...

His writing bothers me. Many may find it lively and entertaining. Here is a line:

So let's resolve as wine drinkers to follow one of the most pervasive trends in drinking and eating today...

(Is this context? Surely it cannot be drinking different. (sic) anyway he continues:

...and add a dose of vitality and seasonality to our glasses.")

What is one to make of that utterance? I do not get much from such writing. It is not so much his ideas and his information that is bothersome; it is his careless writing, his rambling preaching and his weak organization that detract from his helpfulness. Here are the sub-sections from one of his "Flavor Profiles", under "White":

- light whites are very popular now
- midweights are more serious
- richer, fuller whites have more heft

Each has a whole paragraph of that sort of twaddle. See his section on resolving to take better tasting notes for a series of "duh" moments. Likewise wine shops. He does not cotton to supermarkets where Cliquot is $32 instead of $56.

There truly is a lot of good information for the beginner. But being a beginner does not mean that cute but sloppy presentation is more palatable. Crisp and focused presentation doe not mean ponderous writing with no humor. It does mean that wasting time and pages on "the Schlepfaktor" is distracting and can even get annoying after a few dozen pages.

More on organization:

His entry on Champagne is in the section under Winter. He points out that Champagne goes well with shellfish. He rattles-off four makers. He trails off by noting they make "non-vintage and, of course, the vintage Champagnes". He does point out that Champagne is good for festivities, and that it has "tremendous crowd appeal (I wondered if he was thinking of the Super Bowl). Then he sends us off to his section on February for the main entry.

When we get to "February for more specifics", sure enough, the first entry is for the Super Bowl. "When the Chips are Down, Don't Raise a Beer!" oh, please... At least he recommends Prosecco, not Champagne, which is the second section. And he does follow with a good discussion of grower Champagnes.

The organization of a year in seasons and months seems natural enough, but is indeed artificial and forced. For example, he shoe-horns his presentation of restaurants into May because of college graduation. Tail wags dog. So too is a trip to Oporto and some little discussion of port wines, even though most port is taken in the cooler half of the year. Summer wants Prosecco, which we just met in February. Wine accessories fall to June because of Father's Day. Recommended American makers are relegated to the 4th of July. Customs rules go to August. Travel talk, good as it may be, is scattered.

The best use of this book is to read it straight through, not as a reference book. Take it whole and go back for particulars. Expect great things from him to come.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Make some room on the shelf, this book is a keeper! January 14, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
For all the wine books I've read or flipped thought this one resonates with me. It's not a book for the absolute beginner and it's not a book for the wine sommelier but if like most people you drink a couple of bottles of wine a month this is aimed at you. It's a good book if you are interested in learning a bit more about the array of bottles on the shelf in your favorite wine store.

The book is organized to take you through a year of wine drinking. It's set up by month and season with a push toward drinking what makes sense for the time of year, the meal, the occasion and the crowd. It's not a book to answer XYZ fish = ABC White Wine but helps you through thinking about what would you like to serve, who's drinking it, what time of year, day, are you eating inside or outside and makes it seem easy.

The book reads like a collection of articles or blogs and as such it isn't a book that I think most folks will read in one sitting. I think you pick it up flip though, read a couple of the things that catch you eye and put it down. I did appreciate the list of wine terms in the back and some of the lists of what wines are good in certain regions cheat sheet Dr. Vino provides.

Overall I found it to be a good book and have added it to the stack of reference cookbooks in the kitchen, I'm sure it won't disappoint!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice collection to my book shelf.
A Year of Wine is a great addition to my wine guide collection and takes a unique approach on wine pairings. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Jaylah Abella
3.0 out of 5 stars not up to it's title
It's an ok book for a beginner but not for anyone who is a step higher in the wine
world. You have to read through a lot of basic wine info. Read more
Published on September 20, 2010 by Anthony
5.0 out of 5 stars For Drinkers of Fine Wine
If you're young and new to wine this is an excellent book for you. If you're a seasoned hand, you know, a psuedo wine assoholic, you'll find some useful info here as well. Read more
Published on September 15, 2010 by Katie Rider
4.0 out of 5 stars BRAVO from a Serious Amateur
I've always liked wine, but admit I've never really known as much about them as I'd prefer. I've purchased SEVERAL books. Read more
Published on May 24, 2009 by Mark Michener
3.0 out of 5 stars not for the beginner, but a good resource
I like this book, but I wouldn't pay full price for it. It's got some good information presented in a look-it-up-as-you-go type of way. Read more
Published on April 16, 2009 by E. Braun
4.0 out of 5 stars Practical wine guide.
This is a very informative book, well written and easy to read.

This book takes a different approach than say, The Wine Bible. Read more
Published on April 16, 2009 by Morrigan Alexandros
4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad general overview of wine
In my mind this is more of a coffee table book. It does, however, give a pretty good overview of wine pairings, what to look for in a wine, which wines to try during the different... Read more
Published on March 19, 2009 by S. Shrader
5.0 out of 5 stars Best enjoyed with a glass of wine in hand!
I have a number of wine reference books, and most of them get put right on the bookshelf for when I need to reference them. Not this one. Read more
Published on March 7, 2009 by Calamity Jane
5.0 out of 5 stars Great New Addition to my Bookshelf
A Year of Wine is a great addition to my wine guide collection and takes a unique approach on wine pairings. Read more
Published on February 21, 2009 by Gadget Girl
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative Book
I found the Year of Wine to be very informative. With monthly breakdowns to follow seasons. I have two problems with the book though. Read more
Published on February 19, 2009 by Marisa
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