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: #6381 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.com
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

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.

From the Back Cover
The plain-English guide that demystifies wine

Choose good, affordable wines from the United States, Europe, Chile, Australia, and elsewhere

This down-to-earth guide cuts through wine snobbery and tells you what's in, what's out, and what's new in wine. This update of the bestselling For Dummies classic covers everything from established and emerging wine regions to pairing wine with food to collecting wine. Here's to fun, relaxed wine exploration and enjoyment!

Praise for Wine For Dummies, 3rd Edition

"Crammed with useful, accurate information."
—Wine Enthusiast

"This book is . . . for everyone who loves wine or wants to know more about it."
—Robert Mondavi, Chairman Emeritus, Robert Mondavi Winery

"Complete . . . and agreeably relaxed."
—New York Times

"Mary and Ed help people to trust their own tastes and enjoyment of wine."
—Jess Jackson, Proprietor, Kendall-Jackson; Jackson Family Farms

Discover how to

• Understand grape varieties and wine styles
• Decipher wine lists and wine labels
• Get real deals on great wines
• Select, store, open, pour, and enjoy wine
• Choose wines that please your palate

Customer Reviews

Simple and exhaustive
This book is perfect for anybody who (like me before) does not know anything, or not that much about wine.

From the wine making to the etiquette, and going through the particular wine (champagne, sherry, port...), all the subjects to understand the basics are discussed.

I think the way the information is organized is also very well thought to teach about wine to ... well ..dummies! It is very easy to read and well explained.
After having browsed this book, you will be able to understand much better about wine, and even to talk about it.

I was a little surprised not to find any topic about history, role in society etc... this book is just an introduction and just gives you the tool to enjoy a bottle of wine. Do not expect to be an expert about wine regarding economy or history.

My only criticism would be the way French, Italian and Spanish wine have been quickly treated. For instance, I would have liked to have a few names of good producers from Alsace... but instead I was advised to buy the French Wine for Dummies!!!

In a nutshell : a good buy and I will keep this book on my shelf to refresh my memory once in a while.

Great book for beginners!
This book is really helping me learn the basics of wine. It helps you know what to look for in a good wine, and to help direct you to wines you may like. I am really enjoying it!

Just What the Doctor Ordered
You will actually learn a lot from this entry in the "...for Dummies" series. It lacks the rigor and scholarship of most of the "...for Dummies" books, but you'll know more when you finish it than you did before you started. You'll learn that most wine flavors are actually aromas, you'll learn about tannins, what is in balance in a "balanced" wine, what oak barrels do, and even what malolactic fermentation is (it's what makes Chardonnay "buttery.") You'll definitely learn what grapes are used to make our familiar wines, and you'll learn technical terms, like "extract," and "foxy." You'll learn the difference between "fermented" in oak, versus "aged" in oak. And you'll learn all about corkscrews. Unfortunately, the authors' efforts to lighten the subject with humor completely fails; it seems slapstick after the interesting material they cover. One of the authors' primary messages is that wine is a matter of taste, and we should all have the confidence to make up our own minds. They help us with the vocabulary we'll need to communicate our conclusions to others, and they convey their affection for their specialty. You may roll your eyeballs when they gush over France and French wines, but we actually do owe the French our gratitude for its contribution to viniculture. Read "Wine for Dummies" to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, and skip the jokes.