Product Description

Wine enthusiasts and novices, raise your glasses! The #1 wine book has been extensively updated! If you’re a connoisseur, Wine For Dummies, Fourth Edition will get you up to speed on what’s in and show you how to take your hobby to the next level. If you’re new to the world of wine, it will clue you in on what you’ve been missing and show you how to get started. It begins with the basic types of wine, how wines are made, and more. Then it gets down to specifics:

• How to handle snooty wine clerks, navigate restaurant wine lists, decipher cryptic wine labels, and dislodge stubborn corks
• How to sniff and taste wine
• How to store and pour wine and pair it with food
• Four white wine styles: fresh, unoaked; earthy; aromatic; rich, oaky
• Four red wine styles: soft, fruity, and relatively light-bodied; mild-mannered, medium-bodied; spicy; powerful, full-bodied, and tannic
• What’s happening in the “Old World” of wine, including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Greece
• What’s how (and what’s not) in the New World of Wine, including Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa
• U.S. wines from California, Oregon, Washington, and New York
• Bubbling beauties and medieval sweets: champagne, sparkling wines, sherry, port, and other exotic dessert wines

Authors Ed McCarthy, CWE, who is a regular contributor to Wine Enthusiast and The Wine Journal and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, MW, who owns the International Wine Center in New York, have co-authored six wine books in the For Dummies series. In an easy-to-understand, unpretentious style that’s as refreshing as a glass of Chardonnay on a summer day, they provide practical information to help you enjoy wine, including:

• Real Deal symbols that alert you to good wines that are low in price compared to other wines of similar type, style, or quality
• A Vintage Wine Chart with specifics on numerous wines
• Info on ordering wine from out of state, collecting wine, and more

Wine For Dummies, Fourth Edition is not just a great resource and reference, it’s a good read. It’s full-bodied, yet light…rich, yet crisp…robust, yet refreshing….

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20187 in Books
• Brand: HomeAndWine.com
• Published on: 2006-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Features

• It is your wine guide
• 432 Pages

Amazon.com Review
In Wine for Dummies, Mary Ewing-Mulligan teams up with hubby and fellow wine educator Ed McCarthy to guide us on an exhaustive, entertaining trip around the enological--that's right, enological--world. Though clearly experts themselves (Ewing-Mulligan is one of a handful of Americans holding the rare title Master of Wine), the authors assure us that even the most basic knowledge will undermine the very notion of wine pretension. It's as simple as this: "This wine is named for a grape variety. This wine is named for a geographical region. When they make this kind of wine, it goes into this kind of bottle." And so on.

By providing the context in which to begin exploring wine, Wine for Dummies can easily become the send-off for a lifelong education. McCarthy and Mulligan deflate many of the wine snob's attitudes; they assure us that most wine sold today is "good wine," and that any further distinctions made about wine are ultimately subjective. The practical, jovial mentoring the authors provide encourages readers to chart their own course toward drinking great wine (although the authors naturally recommend dozens of their own favorites along the way). In later chapters, McCarthy and Mulligan delve into more serious topics such as investing in and cellaring wine. Even these discussions seem appropriate, given that you'll probably find the allure of wine growing as its mystery subsides to the force of this superb introductory text. --Todd Gehman

Review
“…friendly un-intimidating guide to all there is to know about wine…” (Irish News, 14th August 2004)

“…the no-nonsense guide to buying, storing serving and talking about wine…” (Choice Magazine, May 2004)

From the Publisher
This edition has been completely revised and updated based on responses from among the first edition's hundreds of thousands of readers. Features wine reviews of the latest vintages and new coverage on pairing food with the right wine.

Customer Reviews

A quick, fun, easy way to understanding wines
This book offers an excellent introduction into wines. If you know little about wines, but want a quick, fun and easy way to learn, this book is for you. After reading this book, I was able to talk intelligently about the different varieties of wines, how wine is made and how to taste wines. This book has improved my social and professional life. At business dinners, I'm able to talk about wines and navigate through the wine list intelligently. On the social front, I recently held an amatuer wine tasting at my house and it was big success. One chapter in the book explains all the attributes and nuances you could sense in a wine. I organized the attributes with the descriptions in a table, with a few blank columns for wine tasting notes. My guests were entertained and educated at the same time.

The writing is clear and concise. The authors do not take a snobby attitude towards tasting; throughout the book, they emphasize that good wine is primarily determined by personal choice. They give you the tools to learn to taste and enjoy wine.

I read at an average rate. In about 2 hours, I was able to talk intelligently about the wine making process, understand how to taste wines, and navigate around wine shops. This book should be read over a period of several weeks so that you can actually practice what you've read. The only drawback with this book is that there are no colorful pictures and they weren't very explicit about which flavors to concentrate on while drinking different wine varieties.

Overall, this book is excellent for beginners. After reading the first few chapters, you'll go from beginner to an intermediate wine buff. I even purhased several of these books for my friends as Christmas gifts!

the best overall book on wine I've read
I'm not an expert oeneophile (in fact, I can't even spell it), but I am an interested amateur who has read about 5 basic books on wine ranging from Parkers famous one to lesser known tomes (the Windows on the World one is good too). I think this dummies book offers the least pretentious and most concise overall guide to wine. It does cover a lot of ground which is why the same authors have separate books on white and red wines. On the bright side, you'll learn about every major grape variety and region in the wine world and how to find great bargains. I really enjoyed the tone and attitude -- the authors clearly know a lot, but make it clear that you don't have to be a wine snob to really enjoy wine.

A Must-Have reference book
I was always intimdated by the thought of ordering and buying wine. Wine for Dummies opened the door to a whole new world of experiences. This book helped me understand the different types, vintages, and tastes of wine. It gives clear information and explanations, and answers most any question you could have on the subject of wines. With this book as your guide, you will have no problem navigating a wine list in a restaurant, or the aisles of your local wine shop. There is information on pairing wine and food, how to serve wine, and how to store it. It is the most complete book on wine that I have read to date.

I found that it was easiest to concentrate on one section at a time, rather than to try to read and understand everything at once. Also, it was kind of fun reading one section, then trying some of the wines suggested by the authors, or simply trying the different kinds of wine in the section. The authors really know their wines.

This book will easily become the one you refer to most. It is concise, well-organized and easy to follow.