The New Wine Lover's Companion

Rating:
Summary: I use this book often
Review: I am suprised that I am the first to review this book. I bought this book on the recommendation of someone who has been in the wine industry for 19 years. I, too, am in the wine biz and purchased this when I was starting and my knowledge was very limited. This book contains information on all words and terms associated with wine, from the genreal to the specific. It contains definitions for grapes, appellations, technical and scientific terms, wine making terms, etc. It also contains an appendix with useful information such as how to read a label, how to open a bottle, optimal serving temperatures for certain wines, bottle sizes and types, glassware, a wine aroma wheel, French classification systems,statistical tables...just to name some of the topics. Often, I pick up the book and just start flipping through a few pages and read.

This book is just as useful to the wine neophyte as it is to a master sommlier. If you have an interest in learning about wine, you really should have this book...the information inside is worth many times the price of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Give it 6 stars!
Review: I too am surprised there are not more reviews on this book. I notice that the first edition (The New Wine Lover's Companion is the second edition) received a 5 star rating from Amazon reviewers. I have the first Wine Lover's Companion and couldn't do without it. This updated version is even better. As the introduction indicates much has been added regarding countries like Australia, Chile, and New Zealand. It also contains more viticultural and winemaking terms and the Appendix section is even better. I was slightly disappointed to see that wine producers had been dropped but I realize that the new book has grown to 667 pages. So I think the authors were right in doing this. This book is packed with information-the owner of a wine bar I frequent is always using it to look up information and so far it has not disappointed. And last but not least are the phonetic pronunciations that exist throughout the book to help those of us who sometimes stumble over some of the foreign terms. Kudos to the Herbsts. I would give the New Wine Lover's Companion 6 stars if that were possible.

Rating:
Summary: At 15 bucks it's worth every cent
Review: The quote on the back cover from Harvey Steiman of the Wine Spectator attracted my attention to this book. He says "Wine Lover's Companion packs a tremendous amount of useful, intriguing information about wine. This book is a joy to use-information is what it is all about." As I browsed through it I could see what he was talking about. I purchased it about a month ago and have learned so much. At 15 bucks it's worth every cent and more. I just got interested in wine about 3 months ago and have looked through a couple of the "introductory" wine books and although they are useful, Wine Lover's Companion is the one I go to first to look up a new term or find out about a wine growing region or how to pronounce something (I haven't seen another wine book address this at all). If you're new to the world of wine this is a must have.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Wine Reference
Review: This book is an awesome wine reference, containing a wealth of information. The perfect compliment to "The Food Lover's Companion"