Book Review - Please advise on Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine

I've never seen or even heard of this book, but I can tell you that a title like that is an instant turnoff for me. If you want to learn something about any subject that's new to you, "Ingenious Shortcuts" is not what you should be looking for.

That's what I always say - you can't judge a book by its contents.

Flash (we'll burn that bridge when we come to it) Man

First, welcome to the group.

Next, I am not familiar with the book that you list. However, I have a short- list of some favorite volumes on wine:

Great Wine Made Simple (Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier), by Andrea Immer, Broadway Books, ISBN 0-7679-0477-X

Windows on the World Complete Wine Course (A Lively Guide), by Kevin Zraly, Sterling Publishing Co., ISBN 0-8069-7649-7

Wine for Dummies (A Reference for the Rest of Us), by Ed McCarthy & Mary Ewing-Mulligan, IDG Books, ISBN 1-56884-390-9. IIRC, they also do a Red Wine for Dummies, and a White Wine for Dummies, but I have not read either of these. This book was a gift, and languished in my library for years, until I had read about everything else, that I had. I am not a fan of the ... For Dummies series, as a rule, but this book was an unexpected exception.

Wine Lover's Companion (Comprehensive Definitions for More Than 3500 Wine- Related Terms) by Ron Herbst & Sharon Tyler Herbst, Barron's, ISBN 0-8120-

1479-0. An encyclopedic reference book, unlike the others, but a very good source for basic info. Fair maps of wine regions included.

Both of the Immer and Zraly books are fun, as they are set up as "courses," and the "homework" is the best part. Both well done and informative.

There are tons more, but these are good starting points, as the mentioned book might well be.

Good reading, good wine, and again, welcome,

Hunt

It's a REALLY good wine book. Clever, funny, and accurate.

Bob Foster

Kreiner K, I agree with Bob that Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine is a really, really great book. I consider myself somewhere between a wine connoisseur and still-learning novice and I'll go so far to say that Oldman's Guide is the best wine book that I own. It is a book that I'm still learning from, while most of my other wine guides molder on the shelf after a few sittings. -And here in my home office I have two and a half bookshelves of wine books- The author Mark Oldman offers just the right amount of commentary on major wine topics-grape types, storing wine, dining out, et cetera. As Bob says, the descriptions and explanations are really clever and very dead-on and just the right tone for someone to learn about wine (or learn more about wine after they've mastered the basics). Oldman's Guide cost me only about $14 online and I have referred to the book so much that it is already looks like I've had it for a decade. It is furthest thing I've seen from the standard monotonous wine encylopedia.

Here is an accurate review of Oldman's Guide from Powell's Books, which originally piqued my interest

I also endorse Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible as a solid all-around reference book - it covers everything in a lot of accurate detail. And if you want a graphical overview, you can't go wrong with World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson, which is a large display-style book and very high quality.

Now that the new issue of the California Grapevine newsletter has been published (note the shameless plug), I can post my review of this book from that issue:

Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine, 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style, Penguin Books, New York, 2005, 354 pages, softback, $18. When the review copy of this book arrived from the publisher, I groaned. I thought, "Not another introductory wine book." There have been so many such works in recent years, most of which cover the same old territory in the same old way. It's been old material in new wrappers. But this book was a wonderful surprise. The author has 108 short chapters on numerous topics ranging from "Instead of merlot, try Argentine Malbec" to "Southern Rhone: Rough-Hewn and Immensely Satisfying" Within each short chapter there is a Cheat Sheet giving a concise summary of the chapter, a label decoder to talk about the areas that may be mentioned on the label, a short pronunciation guide and suggestions for matching the discussed wines with food. The book is written in an up beat breezy manner that conveys much information without being too technical or intimidating. It's very well done. The only odd note comes with interspersed side bar comments from 83 accomplished wine enthusiasts listing the wines they like to drink. While many of the comments are precise, naming specific producers, some of them are so general as to border on useless. For example, wine importer Terry Theise tells us he likes to drink "Burgundy." Wow! There's a really helpful comment that readers can use to make future purposes. Some of the individual s included on the list border on the absurd. Does anyone really care what Ludacris (an Atlanta rap star is drinking)? It's a distracting sideshow, In any event, this work vaults to the head of the line for wine books for beginners. One of the finest introductory wine books now available. Highly Recommended.