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Rating: 
Summary: Not great
Review: As mentioned by another reviewer, the organization of this book was not ideal. I was disappointed, because usually Simon is a terrific writer. I do like the visual richness of DK books but found their "French Wines" by Robert Joseph to be far superior to this one; wonderful to look at AND to learn from.
Rating:
Summary: Not great
Review: As mentioned by another reviewer, the organization of this book was not ideal. I was disappointed, because usually Simon is a terrific writer. I do like the visual richness of DK books but found their "French Wines" by Robert Joseph to be far superior to this one; wonderful to look at AND to learn from.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Place To Start
Review: Honestly, when it came down to it, I knew pretty much nothing about wine - other than there were a certain few I liked. Finally, tired of feeling overwhelmed when even considering buying a wine, I decided it was time to learn more about the subject - and this book stood out on the shelf. It gives a nice variety of information, apparently, everything needed to start heading into the world of wine. There are plenty of descriptions about the different types of grapes, the flavors each has, and where they are grown. There's a great section on tasting wine, including the various flavors that can be detected, and the proper way to do it. There's a large list of all the diferent types of wine - making it obviously clear there's more than just white, red, and blush wines. It also tells you how to read the label on a bottle - even those not in English - to find the information about where it's grown, what kind of grapes make up the wine, and such. Thanks to this book, I don't feel quite so lost anymore - but I realize there's a lot more to learn, but this book is like a great guide to help you know what you're looking for now.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Place To Start
Review: Honestly, when it came down to it, I knew pretty much nothing about wine - other than there were a certain few I liked. Finally, tired of feeling overwhelmed when even considering buying a wine, I decided it was time to learn more about the subject - and this book stood out on the shelf. It gives a nice variety of information, apparently, everything needed to start heading into the world of wine. There are plenty of descriptions about the different types of grapes, the flavors each has, and where they are grown. There's a great section on tasting wine, including the various flavors that can be detected, and the proper way to do it. There's a large list of all the diferent types of wine - making it obviously clear there's more than just white, red, and blush wines. It also tells you how to read the label on a bottle - even those not in English - to find the information about where it's grown, what kind of grapes make up the wine, and such. Thanks to this book, I don't feel quite so lost anymore - but I realize there's a lot more to learn, but this book is like a great guide to help you know what you're looking for now.
Rating: 
Summary: An OK place to start
Review: I purchased this book because it was published by DK. I have come to love all their books. The present a clear and direct path to get their point across. That did not seem the cae with this book. There was a not a good place to start. Rather it seemed that you had to jump around the book. It contains great information, just not organized the best.
Rating:
Summary: An OK place to start
Review: I purchased this book because it was published by DK. I have come to love all their books. The present a clear and direct path to get their point across. That did not seem the cae with this book. There was a not a good place to start. Rather it seemed that you had to jump around the book. It contains great information, just not organized the best.
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful to look at, fun to read
Review: This is one of my favourite books on wine. I like the way the book presents Ms Simon's essays, has lists of useful facts and the pictures - gosh, its got pictures of wine grapes so ripe I'm tempted to eat them. Ms Simon's writing is simple and a joy to read, and for a starter book on wine, this is hard to beat.
Unfortunately, the negative reviews do have a point. It's not that the book is badly organized - the organization is logical and coherent. What went wrong is that the editors at DK gave a table of contents that makes people guess what's in each chapter. Terrible! An index is no substitute for a proper contents page.
A more detailed listing of sub-headings in the table of contents would tell people at a glance what's in the book and where to find it. We shouldn't be made to flip through the book deciphering exactly where was the part that dealt with deciphering wine labels. sigh.
Anyway, a very nice book to have.
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