Books, roughly in order of my preference:
Oz Clarke: Introducing Wine
Karen MacNeil: The Wine Bible
Robert Joseph: French Wines
Chris Sherman: The Buzz on Wine
Kevin Zraly: Windows on the World Complete Wine Course
Joseph Delissio: The River Café Wine Primer
Gaither & Brecher: The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine
John Doerper: Fodor’s Wine Country – California’s Napa & Sonoma Valleys
The Oxford Companion to Wine