Award-winning sommelier Chris Morrison believes that your wine decisions should be driven by your own sense of taste - and by the way you like to eat, drink and live. In This Is Not A Wine Guide he helps readers develop the confidence to choose, purchase, serve, share and ultimately even collect wine without feeling the need to rely on the 'old rules' involving notes, scores, jargon and reviews. Morrison answers the question all of us ponder when faced with choosing wine from a wine list or from the bottleshop shelf: 'Where do I start?' This Is Not A Wine Guide tackles the fundamentals and then moves from the bottle forwards: into the reasons you choose it, open it and drink it; with what company, under what circumstances, in what glasses - and with what food. Because this is a wine book for people who also love food. For Morrison, food and its taste and textures represent the narrative that can unlock wine - 'wine doesn't make sense without food'. This Is Not A Wine Guide is packed with information and advice to help you get the most out of your wine experience, whether it's cracking a bottle for a barbecue, navigating a wine list in a restaurant, wondering what to serve with kimchi, or what to do when the cork crumbles.

This illustrated introduction to Chinese wine explores the history of wine production in China, the legends and customs that surround it and its place in China today. Traditionally, Chinese wine and spirits were made from grain, and had three important uses: to perform rituals, to dispel one's worries and to heal. Today, wine is still believed to have a therapeutic benefit, but the Chinese beverage industry has expanded on a large scale and now includes famous brands of beer and, increasingly, vineyards producing red and white wine for global consumption. Chinese Wine is indispensable reading for both wine-lovers and all those with an interest in the transition from traditional to modern Chinese culture.

This is a comprehensive guide to the must-know wines and producers of California's 'new generation, ' and the story of the iconoclastic young winemakers who have changed the face of California viniculture in recent years

In the recent years, Cava has taken the stage as Spain's star sparkling wine, not only thanks to its remarkable quality to price ratio, but also because more and more connoisseurs are recognizing its richness and complexity. This book offers a great overview of the Cava's origins, its elaboration, and its variety of tastes. You will learn all you need to know about the grapes, the traditional methods, as well as established and emerging premium Cava producers. Recipes of traditional Catalonian dishes that perfectly accompany a Cava dinner round off this concise, but very informative book.

Home winemaking is an appealing hobby for a new generation of wine lovers lured by the promise of a great payoff - small batches of handmade wine. It's the perfect opportunity to experiment with flavours, have fun playing with chemistry, and share a few tasty bottles with friends and family. But safely fermenting, bottling, and aging wine is a demanding process requiring special equipment, impeccable sanitation, an understanding of chemical reactions, and the patience to see the aging process through to the end. No matter how experienced the home winemaker, unforeseen questions develop with every batch of new wine. When a winemaker has problems with leaky corks or finds an oily film on top of his fermenting wine, what's the simplest, quickest way to get an answer? "The Wine Maker's Answer Book" is a 24 hour helpline with advice on hundreds of wine-making dilemmas. From the basic curiosity of the novice (What equipment will I need to get started?) to the finer points of fermentation (What is the impact of malolactic fermentation on acidity?), every step of the process is covered in detail. Author Alison Crowe uses a friendly question-and-answer format to explain the mysteries of turning grape juice into wine, whether the reader is beginning with fresh grapes or a home wine-making kit. To the straightforward requests for information, she offers detailed descriptions of procedures and equipment. For stickier real-life problems, she first carefully assesses the possible causes and then gives expert advice on fixing the trouble.

The rivetingly strange story of the world's most expensive bottle of wine, and the even stranger characters whose lives have intersected with it.

The New York Times bestseller, updated with a new epilogue, that tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it.

Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle.

Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.

This essential reference for oenophiles -- long used as the go-to text for the prestigious Master Sommelier examination -- is the most comprehensive guide to the world of wine, featuring authoritative information on the history, culture, geography, and taste of vintages around the globe. Fully updated and revised for the first time since 2011, this new 800-page edition of Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia reflects the most recent trends in the dynamic world of wine, written by experts around the globe. Beautifully illustrated with more than 400 images and 100 brand new National Geographic maps, this definitive guide is arranged geographically to highlight the regions and climates that produce the best vintages. From the countries of Southeast Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean, each page is packed with information on flavor notes, vineyard profiles, tasting room guides, grape know-how, and special information on unique varietals. The book also features top wines organized by maker and year; a troubleshooter's guide to potential wine faults; a taste chart to help identify flavors; up-and-coming producers; unusual wines, food pairings, and more. You'll also find time lines depicting the chronology of wine from 500 million B.C., expert sommelier tips, and thousands of recommendations for the latest and greatest reds, whites, and roses. The most up-to-date and comprehensive wine refence in the world, this stunning book is an oenophile's dream -- and a must-have for anyone looking to become an expert in wine.

Winefulness is the new mindfulness.

Cancel the hot yoga and pick up a cool Pinot Grigio - sometimes all you need is a nice glass of wine. Through the good times and the bad, it's always there to pick you up and it's always got your back. So enjoy this collection of wine wisdom for the soul, and learn to view the world through rosé-tinted glasses.

As the old saying goes, where there's a wine there's a way.

Includes inspiration such as:

• It isn't wise to keep things bottled up
• No Champagne, no gain
• Life is a Cabernet, after all
• Every cloud has a Syrah lining
• Do things for the right Rieslings

If you love wine, this book will give you all the knowledge and self-confidence you need to become a world-class wine taster. It reveals in methodical steps exactly how to acquire essential wine-tasting skills. Cees (it's pronounced 'Case') van Casteren is a brilliant scientist, author, and international wine competition judge, as well as one of the global super-elite (less than 500 top experts worldwide) who have been able to earn the supreme title, Master of Wine. Anyone Can Taste Wine first appeared in Dutch and instantly established itself in the Netherlands as far and away the most authoritative and popular book on the subject. From the book's introductory chapter: "Many people typically believe that the ability to taste comes from some kind of inborn, innate aptitude-as though 'taste' were a genetic hand-me-down-something that you either have, or you don't have. But that's not true. "Wine tasting is a skill. Anyone can taste wine, as long as they have normally functioning senses of smell and taste. Anyone (that is) who is motivated to learn and practice-a lot-can become a good wine taster. Genes or no genes. "Much of this skill will involve awareness of how to train your senses. While there are genetic differences between humans in terms of smelling and tasting, these innate differences do not make one taster better than another. Research by taste professor Linda Bartoshuk, previously at the University of Yale, has shown that a wine taster's ability to taste is mainly due to the amount of training that the taster has experienced. Specifically, exercises dedicated to recognizing wine scents and developing an attendant wine language are the main contributing factors in developing wine tasting abilities. The difficulty that most besets inexperienced tasters is a lack of suitable vocabulary that would enable them to name and describe the flavors and scents that they taste and smell. This vital skill, being able to describe flavors and aromas in words, remains a common problem, even for the most experienced of wine tasters. According to Professor Tim Jacob of Cardiff University, a method that will enable you to associate smells and flavors with a suitable repertoire of words will contribute greatly to the enhancement of tasting skills . . . that is . . . you just need a method. The more user-friendly, the easier it will be to learn and remember. And that's exactly what I realized at the start of my Master of Wine studies. The method had to be user-friendly in order to help me to remember all relevant aspects for tasting, describing, and analyzing the wine. In search of these aspects, I started with . . . the wine itself. With this fascinating blend of water (colorless, odorless, tasteless), alcohol (colorless, odorless, slightly sweet), acids, sugars, pigments, aromas, and tannins which together give wine its color, smell, and taste. "And I was quite quick to learn that this very curious and complex combination of color, aromas, alcohol, acids, sugars and tannins actually were the 'relevant aspects' I was looking for, and therefore the targets of my attention while developing a method. The answer to my quest was indeed in the wine itself!"

Fully revised and updated by Oz, with new entries on key wineries, vineyards and producers from around the country. 'It's brilliant. Exactly what's wanted. -' Hugh Johnson One of the great pleasures of wine is to drink it where it is grown and made. The opportunity to meet growers, winemakers and winery owners is what draws people to visit wineries and to 'have an experience in the vineyard'. This is your essential guide to find out about England and its world beating sparklers and still wines that have captivated the wine world. The modern view of English wine is of a country amazingly blessed with vast tracts of soil suitable for viticulture, much of it almost indistinguishable from the chalky slopes of Champagne and Chablis, and of a country taking full advantage of the vagaries of climate change to ripen Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to levels perfect for sparkling wine, and increasingly excellent still wines. this book helps you find the best English and Welsh wines, from fizz, whites, some impressive reds and even dessert and orange wines. The book includes: -Exciting Times How it used to be; The Nyetimber effect; Climate: is it almost perfect now?; Location is key; Planting like made; A question of style: sparkling or still; and Grape varieties: a race to the top. -British Bubbles What is needed to make good fizz; Champagne, the original fizz; Bubbles and how they're created. -A Tour Of the Regions - covers personal experiences and reflections from Oz's many years of visiting talented and passionate producers up and down the country. From Yorkshire to the far west of Cornwall and across to Wales, a small but dynamic part of the UK's wine movement, Oz recommends wines he has enjoyed and found interesting and encourages you to try for yourself.

From tasting the greatest grapes to creating the perfect cheeseboard, this two volume collection is a definitive guide to the ever-changing character of cheese and wine. It offers a fascinating world tour of wines, from Bordeaux to the Barossa Valley and a guide to the greatest grapes: tasting the top 12 varieties. From the vine to the glass: production techniques are explained and the best ways of storing and serving your wine. The definitive illustrated guide to fabulous cheese of the world, each entry in the visual catalogue details colour, texture, taste and provenance, from the creamy Brie de Meaux to the aromatic Stilton. It includes over 70 internationally renowned classic and contemporary cheese recipes.

Steven Jenkins is our foremost cheese authority--in the words of The New York Times, "a Broadway impresario whose hit is food." Now, after years of importing cheeses, scouring the cheese-producing areas of the world, and setting up cheese counters at gourmet food shops, he's decided to write it all down. Full of passion, knowledge, and an expert's considered opinions the cheese primer tells you everything you need to know about the hundreds of cheeses that have, in the last few years, become available in this country. Region-by-region, he covers all the major cheeses from France, Italy, Switzerland--the top tier of cheese-producing countries--plus the best of Britain, Ireland, Spain, the United States, Austria, Germany, and other countries. Along the way he tells how to pick out a healthy Pont l'Eveque; why to reconsider the noble Fontina for more than just cooking; how to avoid those factory-made chevres; why to seek out the sublime Vacherin Mont d'Or; and how to start exploring--Bleu de Bresse, Cabrales, Crottin de Chavignol, and so on. A complete primer, it includes information on the best ways to store and serve cheese, including which wines to serve alongside them; how to orchestrate a proper cheese course; and the unimportable cheeses to look up when abroad.

A classic in its genre, An Omelette and a Glass of Wine compiles Elizabeth David's short pieces on food and wine. A bestseller when it was first published in 1984, much of David's finest writing featured in magazines and newspapers such as the Spectator, the Sunday Times and Harper's, and these pieces contain tantalizing glimpses of her very private life. An Omelette and a Glass of Wine is an exquisite collection that demonstrates the talent that made Elizabeth David the most celebrated food writer of her time. 'She has the intelligence, subtlety, sensuality, courage and creative force of the true artist' - Wine and Food Elizabeth David rejuvenated the British attitude towards home cookery and is still considered to be one of the greatest food writers ever. She wrote extensively on food and wine and her enthusiasm for European cooking encouraged a revolution of the British culinary scene. Her books have remained influential since her death in 1992. This final compilation has been put together by her literary executor, Jill Norman.

Fiona Morrison, awarded the coveted Master of Wine in 1994, is a talented writer and winemaker who works closely with her husband, Jacques Thienpont, helping to make the wine and manage their three Bordeaux estates - Le Pin (Pomerol, home to one of the world's most prestigious red wines), L'IF (Saint-Emilion) and Chateau L'Hetre (Cotes de Castillon). Fiona has over 30 years' experience in the fine wine trade on both sides of the Atlantic. "Fiona Morrison Thienpont has written a book from a viewpoint no other writer, as far as I know, has ever possessed: a seat at the heart of the action." - Hugh Johnson "It all comes down to succession: how a family can hold together over the course of generations, continuing to build on the success of their vines and their ancestors. Wine is one of the rare businesses in which this level of international fame and internal family politics plays out over centuries-unless you consider royalty a business. So, it makes for an unusual sociological study and compelling prose." - Joshua Greene, Wine & Spirits

Wine Notes is the perfect companion for wine lovers. In Parts 1 and 2, distinguished wine writers offer expert advice on all aspects of choosing, storing and enjoying wine - from planning your cellar to food and wine matching. In Parts 3 and 4 there is plenty of space for you to record thoughts of your own and organize your collection: from wines you have tasted and enjoyed, recommendations from friends and lists of bottles that you are laying down for a special occasion in the future. Whether you are a keen collector or simply like to keep a record of what wines you have enjoyed with everyday meals, this journal provides the perfect place to store your knowledge.

In this unique study of wine through the ages, journalist and World War I frontline reporter, Hubert Warner Allen (1881-1968) casts an observant eye over the way wine appears in literature, from the words of the Roman connoisseurs to the excesses of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales heroes, taking in the debatable wisdom of the 18th-century epicurean Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and the sagacity of the legendary Edwardian wine-writer, George Saintsbury - and many more. Warner Allen's observations are both fascinating and highly entertaining. As Harry Eyres, who introduces this book, says: "Literary, historical, discursive, personal: this is very much the opposite of modern wine writing, and presents another era seen through a glass darkly." The Classic Editions breathe new life into some of the finest wine-related titles written in the English language over the last 150 years. Although these books are very much products of their time - a time when the world of fine wine was confined mostly to the frontiers of France and the Iberian Peninsula and a First Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy wouldn't be beyond the average purse - together they recapture a world of convivial, enthusiastic amateurs and larger-than-life characters whose love of fine vintages mirrored that of life itself.

There are many famous wines selling for over $100 per bottle and there are far more unknown wines of remarkably similar quality and taste selling for under $10 and $20. How do you find the very finest wines for $5-$20? If you enjoy expensive wines, this book can save you 25%-75% with no decrease in quality. Consumers of bargain basement wines can improve the quality of their wine by 100% at no increase in price.

As wine connoisseurs know, Argentine wine was once famously bad. The grapes were overwatered, harvested in brutal heat, fermented in enormous cement pools, aged in antiquated oak vats, and then watered down and adulterated. The final product was industrial plonk, drinkable only on ice. But in 2001, a Cabernet Sauvignon / Malbec blend beat Napa and Bordeaux's finest in a blind taste test. Suddenly, Argentina emerged as a premier wine region with a champion varietal-what best-selling author Benjamin Wallace calls "the humble Malbec." How did this happen? Ian Mount's vivid journey through Argentina's Wild West explores the alchemy of weather, soil, and viticulture techniques that, on rare occasions, produce a legendary bottle of wine. He also investigates the dynamics of taste, status, and money that turned Malbec into a worldwide phenomenon. Profiling the larger-than-life figures who fueled the Malbec revolution-including celebrity oenologist Michel Rolland, acclaimed American winemaker Paul Hobbs, and the Mondavi-esque Catena family-Mount describes in colorful detail the brilliant innovations and backroom politics that put Malbec on the map. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the snow-capped Andes and Mendoza's sweeping plains, The Vineyard at the End of the World tells the fascinating, four-hundred-year story of how a wine mecca arose in the Argentine desert. It is at once a sumptuous travel narrative, a riveting history of a fascinating region, and an intriguing business story in which a small group of passionate vintners remade their world.

An all-inclusive, easy-to-use primer to all things wine

Want to learn about wine, but don't know where to start? "Wine All-In-One For Dummies" provides comprehensive information about the basics of wine in one easy-to-understand volume. Combining the bestselling "Wine For Dummies" with our regional and specific wine titles, this book gives you the guidance you need to understand, purchase, drink and enjoy wine.

You'll start at the beginning as you discover how wine is made. From there you'll explore grape varieties and vineyards, read labels and wine lists, and discover all the nuances of tasting wine. You'll see how to successfully store wine and serve it to your guests-and even build up an impressive collection of wine. Plus, you'll find suggestions for perfect food pairings and complete coverage on wines from around the world.Features wine tasting, serving, storing, collecting, and buying tips, all in a single authoritative volumeIncludes information on California wines, as well as other domestic and foreign locations including the US, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina.Helps you choose the best vintage for your needsAlso covers champagne, sherry, and port wineEd McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan are the authors of seven Dummies books on wine including the bestselling "Wine For Dummies, 4th Edition," other contributing authors are recognized wine experts and journalists in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada

Whether you're a wine novice or a budding sommelier, "Wine All-In-One For Dummies" is the one guide you need on your shelf to make your wine experience complete.

For fans of Italian wine, few names command the level of respect accorded to Brunello di Montalcino. Expert wine writer Kerin O'Keefe has a deep personal knowledge of Tuscany and its extraordinary wine, and her account is both thoroughly researched and readable. Organized as a guided tour through Montalcino's geography, this essential reference also makes sense of Brunello's complicated history, from its rapid rise to the negative and positive effects of the 2008 grape-blending scandal dubbed "Brunellogate". O'Keefe also provides in-depth profiles of nearly sixty leading producers of Brunello.

In this book, Clive Coates, a Master of Wine who has spent four decades of his distinguished career in Burgundy, shares his vast insider's knowledge of one of the world's most exciting, complex, and intractable wine regions. Personal rather than encyclopedic, and informed by Coates' unparalleled access to regular, extensive tastings, this book imparts the author's philosophy and expertise as to how best approach, appreciate, and discuss the wines of Burgundy. Coates updates and supplements the domaine profiles featured in his two previous books, Cote D'Or and The Wines of Burgundy with new in-depth assessments of specific vineyards. Divided into three sections - Vineyard Profiles, Domaine Profiles, and Vintage Assessments - My Favorite Burgundies considers the leading vineyards and today's top estates, and features detailed maps and a wealth of tasting notes that reflect how the wine develops as it ages. Enlivened by Coates' singular, firsthand knowledge and precise descriptions, this is an indispensable guide for amateur and professional enophiles alike.

Sparkling wines, or champagnes, are synonymous with celebration and happiness. These festive wines have a charm and attraction all their own. The authors have spent decades exploring the techniques of sparkling wine production and discovering the secrets of producing champagne-like wine of superb quality. For any winemaker to be able to produce his or her own sparkling wine is one-upmanship to the nth degree! Yet it is perfectly possible. In this revised and updated edition, the authors share their expertise with you, and whether you are a beginner or an experienced winemaker, you will find this book contains all the information necessary to make your own sparkling wines.