 |
This accessible little primer course on wine achieves what many larger and more institutional guides fail to deliver: a sense of invitation, belonging, and potential understanding for those with an interest and taste in wine but who have little foundational knowledge or confidence about the subject. For every novice wine orderer who has shrunk into their chair when stared down by a snooty sommelier or fumbled with choosing a bottle to gift or serve, this book takes a friendly approach, reaching out in the spirit of inclusion and then reducing the complexities of wine down to some sensible basics: categories of grapes, types of wine, ways and reasons to decant and serve certain wines in optimal ways, recommendations for storing and tasting, and even tips for understanding wine ratings.
There are interesting little pearls of wine knowledge here. For example, what’s up with those long-stemmed glasses that servers sweep on and off tables in restaurants, only to deliver into them seemingly short pours of wine? Come to find out, there are reasons for this related to temperature preservation and air filtration. Then there’s the question about all those varietals of wine from outside France that have become so prominent and popular. It seems many began with and are still based on French grapes. And what’s with this whole business of fine wines and aging times? Well, there is a method and meaning to the madness that is sometimes relevant and sometimes not all that important. It all depends on the wine varietal and other factors.
The book also offers kind, thoughtful commentary on the common notion of pairing wine with food, where certain wines are ideal matches for certain foods while others risk overpowering or underperforming. For readers and drinkers who give little thought to their palette other than to fill it when hungry, the idea of tasting and pairing may remain a puzzling and inaccessible step. Yet there is enough basic information here to whet that reader’s appetite so that even if a tasting trip to Napa is not in the cards, the activity makes a bit more sense.
For readers who have attempted to read wine tomes from Jay McInerney and Robert Parker and found them too detailed, pretentious, or niche, this book offers a markedly different experience that is void of pretension and is generously robust. Likewise, for readers who encounter wine in literature and culture, the explanations here help give context and meaning. In author Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow, for example, wine is so present as to almost be another character. The count’s reflections on wines that make or break a meal can seem lofty and absurd, but this little wine primer helps it all make sense. Likewise, the seemingly obscure wine-tasting world of the film Sideways is easier to understand given the geographic and wine culture basics offered here. The author’s love of wine and genuine desire to share that love in a welcoming way are at the core of this book. Short of joining a tasting at the author’s home and enjoying a bottle from an under-the-bed homemade wine cellar, this is the closest way to get together, pop a cork, and say "Salut."
RECOMMENDED by the US Review