Wine Savvy: The Simple Guide to Buying and Enjoying Wine Anytime, Anywhere

Rating:
Summary: Great book for wine beginners!
Review: I really enjoyed reading Heidi Yorkshire's Wine Savvy. It's a friendly, straightforward book, and it makes it easy to jump right in and begin to learn about the world of wine. I already thought I knew the basics. Now I can have a conversation with wine-educated friends or the clerk in the local wine store and sound fairly well informed. This is quick and easy reading, and well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: Surpisingly good for a book of only about 100 pages. It covers the basics as well as going into detail about the important varietals one needs to know. There were details about ordering at restaurants that I have not seen in books three times the length. Hardly any others have had a how-to on visiting a vineyard and this one was very good. Nice non-intimidating book.

Rating:
Summary: A great, comprehensive book that's easy to read
Review: This book does a great job of explaining the basics of buying and enjoying wine, in ways that are easy for wine beginners to understand. Take the first section on why wines 'taste' differently, based on their aroma. Heidi suggests you try comparing an apple piece to a pear piece with your nose being held. Most people can't tell them apart, because the tongue only tastes basic flavors. The rest comes from your nose.

Heidi further explains how wines can be broken down into pretty basic styles based on tannin, acid, sweetness and alcohol levels. She explains how to run simple taste tests with tea, sugar, lemon juice, and cream to see these differences. Have you felt that you could never understand these "fine distinctions?" Her tests will show you how easy it is, once you know what to look for!

Other sections include how to run a wine tasting, what the various wine varieties taste like, ways to learn how to be better at tasting wines, pairing food and wine, and even how to select wines in stores and in restaurants.

At 110 pages this is a relatively quick read, and the information is well written and helpful. If you're looking to increase your basic knowledge about wine, this might be a place to start!