Wine All-in-One For Dummies by Ed McCarthy

by Ed McCarthy

An all-inclusive, easy-to-use primer to all things wineWant 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 CanadaWhether 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Wine

Mass Market Paperback

First published July 30, 2009

Reviews

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally don't like being called a "Dummy", but these wine books were actually fairly helpful. Gotta prepare for Tuscany somehow...

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most "For Dummies" books largely come down to a fairly simple question: are they written to the level of the person reading it or now? Some of them have been just right for me, but this one was written with much less of a novice in mind, it seems. Lots of lots of regions and vinyards, not so much that makes clear the appeal of wine loving itself. Perhaps it's especially hard to talk about something that's a very sense-based experience, though.

[Russell Bittner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t want to suggest that the title is any way a misnomer. Most book-browsers here in the U. S. are well aware of the Dummies series — and I’m no exception. This was, however, the first time I actually read one exemplar of this yellow and black series — and I did so because the read, while not obligatory, was decidedly job-related.

What I can and will say is that I came to the book with what I thought was a fairly comprehensive knowledge of wine, having gotten the oenophile’s equivalent of a bachelor’s over the course of a decade in Europe, followed by half a dozen trips to Argentina and Chile — not to mention to California. Hence, I considered myself to be fairly literate in both Old and New World wines (pace Washington State and Oregon). This first-person experience was subsequently followed by a couple of jobs in some quite respectable wine outlets here in Brooklyn — and I recently undertook a third.

But back to WINE (All-in-One) FOR DUMMIES. The book (or five books in one) would appear to have been assiduously researched by people who know what they’re talking about, and their prose is eminently readable. Can you absorb it all in one reading? If you can, you’re a better (wo)man than I! In fact, I suspect I’ll have to read it at least twice more. Will I then be an expert in matters of wine, wine production and wine consumption? Certainly not. The universe of wine is expanding — not to say exploding! — at a pace that defies the simple oenophile’s ability to keep up with it. And while I can think of few more pleasurable endeavors in life, this is a pleasure that demands self-education.

In short, WINE (All-in One) FOR DUMMIES is not only worth the dollar cost of the investment, but also worth the far more costly (but rewarding) investment of time. If you have any ambition to understand wine beyond the basics of red, white, rosé and bubbly, this book should take its rightful place in your library to serve not only as centurion and scholar, both also as poet and warrior. In short, it should become your vade mecum for as long as you desire to savor (and understand) some of the best of what this planet has to offer.


RRB
12/11/13
Brooklyn, NY
Russell Bittner