Books to read.

My favourites are pretty old by now but the pocket Broadbents Guide to Winetasting is the most literate and the Wine Avenger by Willie Gluckstern the least pretentious on the subject of how to taste. Jancis Robinson's "pocket" book on grapes is also very good but you have to connect the dots

Nowadays there are sooooooooooooooo many tomes on winetasting and psuedo books available by every prominent chef or wine buyer that are not so subliminal commercials for a magazine or the writers industry's friends that you can read just about any book about basic nomenclature and tasting techniques and be able to drop the words mid-palate TCA, fruit bomb and terrior on unsuspecting friends at will.

Beware of any books by guys named Skip or Vevel and ladies named Muffie or sold in Wal Marts, Trader Joes and Barney's Bacala Room's bargain bin which tend to be written by guys who were au currant in 1967................

It also depends on what stage you are at; Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine is expensive but it's essentially a dictionary of wine. When you're at a tasting and somebody says 'batonnage' and you're thinking 'huh?' you can go home and rest assured, there will be a full entry explaining the term. Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson's World Atlas of Wine is also very good as it has plenty of maps and decriptions of all the appelations, to get a sense of place.

I've heard good things about Oz Clarke as well.

After that, I would say it's best to start specializing in specific regions you're most interested in but the general books are a great start.

Peter

Seconded. But it is more than a dictionary - the articles are very readable and many provide excellent introductions to larger subjects.

Also seconded. These two would without a doubt be highest in my list of recommendations.

The other one that often gets recommended is Jancis Robinson's "Vines, Grapes and Wines". I did not get on so well with this book, but is a good reference for grape varieties,

I would also not be without the latest edition of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book.

The only other must-have is something that contains a decent amount about tasting. Personally I would NOT recommend Broadbent's Winetasting pocketbook. It has a lot of information that I found not particulalry relevent. I liked the tasting bits in Michael Schuster's Essential Winetasting, and Jancis Robinson's Wine Tasting Workbook, but I guess neither are particularly definitive. There may well be better ones.

The idea of 'tasting' wine is absurd. Wines are meant to accompany food. Get several botles of your favorite types and have them with a full-course dinner. That's the ONLY legitimate test for wine: how well it accompanies food. Many, many wines taste quite tannic or bitter without the proper accompaniment. Cheese and crackers are no substitute for a meal.

In short, NEVER just 'taste' wine. It's an insult to the winemaker.

WINES OF ITALY, David Gleave. A detailed region-by-region guide to the multitude of wines produced nationwide, as well as information on the wine industry and recommendations on what to buy. Maps and color photographs, 160 pp. Paperback, 1989. $12.95

Wow, another absolute statement. It's made with such conviction is must be true.

Andy

My favorite is still:

Frank Schoonmackers "Encyclopedia of Wine" Hastings House 1964.

Can be read like a book, from cover to cover. Has noth> Are there any 'bibles' for the new wine lover? Can anyone suggest some

Salut/Hi Andy,

le/on 16 Sep 2004 05:39:26 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

Andy, I'd not want to censor your reading, but please don't undo all my good killfiling by quoting the entirety of this troll's effluvium just to make a one line comment.

It must be becoming obvious even to the MOST tolerant amongst us that "Michael the Radioactive" converses by making lunatically extreme statements in the hopes of garnering some incredulous responses. He then justifies and re-justifies them ad nauseam, implying that the entire wealth of experience in the field is worthless junk and that only HE has received illumination.

Now, as I said, I'd not want to prevent you from reading him if it amuses you to do so. But I DON'T intend to. I'd prefer it if no one replied to him, no matter what the provocation, as this is the most effective way of persuading the gentleman to pack up his bags and pester some other group like alt.fan.bush. MY only recourse, if people insist on quoting him, is to killfile the people who do so.

Another is to set up message filters for the subjects that he dominates. This I can do in Outlook Express. But I do have a question for any techies out there....

On email, Outlook Express allows me to set up a filter like "Where the body contains specific words" (like "Ukranian") "Delete it"

On newsgroups, it allows me to do it in the subject, but not the body "Where the subject line contains specific words" (like "Bad Vapors") "Delete it"

Does anybody know a way to have it look at the body of newsgroup postings? Or, if Outlook Express cannot do it, is there a newsgroup reader that can?

Thanks in advance, \/

Yes it finally has sunk in Ian. I will now fall upon my sword.

I agree Ian. I do live in the same community as Mr. Scarpitti and no doubt will cross paths with him on some occasion. I do find it interesting that most of the wines that he mentioned (somewhat inexpensive Italian wines) would no doubt benefit from a bit of airing, IMHO, of course. :-) Bi!!

I just started a wine class and this is the book were using:

95363892/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-8794826-9464617?v=glance&s=books&nP7846

its pretty good: Wine Appreciation by Richard P. Vine.

Salut/Hi Bill,

le/on Thu, 16 Sep 2004 18:06:43 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Bill, I wasn't intending to make ANY criticism of you. Fare from it. I meant what I said when I told you that I greatly admired your tolerance and your desire to defend the underdog. So no hari kiri - at least not until you've willed me your collection of fine old wines. ;-)))

Salut/Hi Bill,

le/on 16 Sep 2004 18:58:50 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

I'm sure he's as nice as pie when you meet him face to face.

inexpensive Italian wines) would no

I've no doubt whatsoever that you're right. I've rarely met a youngish red that didn't benefit from air. Actually, I'm hard put to it to think of ONE that didn't.

Without making any kind of thorough going experiment (in the way I did with the Vox Dei for Ken Blake, who has now left us), I should say that for most of our day-to-day drinking we have a young red Bergerac in a box from an excellent producer (forget what they're called correctly in English), what the French call a Bag-in-Box. We get them in a 10 litre container and most evenings, if the meal calls for it, we tap off a decanter's worth. Mostly I do so about an hour or so before hand, and of course the fact that it is tapped into the decanter gives it a decent amount of aeration. However, for one reason or another, I sometimes forget to do so, and just decant at the last minute. I have noticed that almost without exception the guests (who have no idea of what I'm doing, and not necessarily much knowledge about wine) comment very favourably on the wine when I decant in advance, and don't when I forget to. I have also noticed that if we need further wine during the evening, causing me to decant a second lot during the main course, for example, the wine shows significantly less well, until it's had a chance to get some air in the glass.

Anecdotal, unwitnessed and entirely personal, perhaps, but it's what we've observed. Of course I've not carried out the same tests with Italian wines, because we don't get much worth drinking here, where we live, sadly. I suppose that hypothetically all Italian wines are spoilt by decanting, while wines from almost everywhere else in the world aren't and in fact improve, but I doubt it. I just think our Mr S is someone who has a deep seated need to be noticed. Perhaps he didn't get smacked by his mum enough when he misbehaved as a child.

From the ones I own Karen MacNeil's "The Wine Bible" is a good introduction of wines and their regions, it is around $25 Canadian.

Windows on the World Complete Wine Course is just what is says and is a pretty good for beginners and some slightly more advanced.

Anything by Jancis Robinson As mentioned Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion is good for all the terms you are going to hear. It is defiantly worth it's price. the World Atlas of wine she co-wrote with Hugh Johnson is similar to the wine Bible but with maps..it is also about $50 more How to Taste is a good complementary to the Windows to the World. It deals more with the taste of the grapes as opposed to Windows regions based course She also has a Pocket guide to Grapes that not only lists all grapes but has section in the back that lists what grapes you will find in wines from the European regions. ie What grapes you will find in a Bordeaux. ...for entertainment read her Confessions of a Wine Lover it will make you want to know a lot more about wine.

Also take a look at The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopaedia by Tom Stevenson. It is similar to the Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion in price and contents.

Enjoy LemonyJim

Sorry I have not checked all responses yet -- recently back from heavy busy wine-survey visit to Burgundy, very interesting experiences and insight into

03 and 04 V's -- general director of Louis Jadot had us to dinner, for example, and sprang a mystery wine on us to identify and I nailed it, by God -- not my sport usually, but felt good nevertheless

-- but anyway I've gotten good all-around utility in recent years from Tom Stevenson's "New Sotheby's" Wine Encyclopedia; others here have mentioned it. I posted more info on the amazon.com listing a few years ago, at last check it was still there.

-- also for technical reference, the Oxford Companion (already mentioned in this thread).

-- Those are general-purpose reference books (Stevenson actually has tutorial merit also -- I have several copies of it, stashed here and there). None alas that I know of has the pleasant-reading, broad-overview tutorial eloquence of Blake Ozias's "All About Wine" (1966, 1973) or (specifically for Burgundies) Yoxall's "Wines of Burgundy" (1968, 1978), both of which are seriously obsolete in details, but widely available used and still good reading.

Max

Quite rightly too, Ian. It is my experience that young Italian red wines in _particular_ tend to benefit from, and even require, vigorous splash decanting. For some reason they seem to be bottled with much higher residual CO2 than reds from other countries (e.g., France and California). Not to the point of being frizzante/spritzig, but noticeably gassy to a degree that obscures the aroma and flavor.

Tom S

Italian wines, in particular, are meant to be drunk with food. The wines of the various regions in Italy have evolved over many centuries to accompany the regional fare.

'Tasting' a Barolo or Barbaresco or Barbera, not drinking it with a meal, is simply an abomination and an insult to the winemaker. Why? Because he has designed the wine to accompany a meal. Food changes the appreciation of wines significantly.

I don't know who started the practise of 'tastings', but I doubt it was any Italian.

I read that in a book too.

And what about an Amarone, sweeter Prosecco or a Vin Santo. What dinner fare should I serve with these?

Andy