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Rating: 
Summary: The World of Wine at your Fingertips
Review: Christian Callec has written one of the most comprehensive and unpretentious books on this vast, glorious but often misunderstood subject. For best results, one should, of course, be sipping a glass of one's favorite wine while perusing the book ... The author, the curator of the Dutch Wine Museum for a number of years, has also written books on gastronomy (good food). In my eyes, this *alone* places him ahead of his competitors. Anyone who writes about *good* *food* & *good* *wine* understands *exactly* what makes life worth living: naturally, adding family and friends to this definiton! What *first* sold me on this book was the fine detail and insightful knowledge he shares about Hungarian wine. He thoroughly covers "need to know" information, such as, the wine-growing regions, wine varities, and locations of the best wine-cellars and vineyards in Hungary. I love his descriptions of the various wines. For example, "Tokaji Edes Szamorodni" he states, has "a wonderful bouquet of overripe fruit which in the upper notes are peach, apricot, raisin, almond, vanilla and various floral notes, such as lilly-of-the-valley and many blossoms." The description immediately makes me want to jump up & run to the nearest speciality wine shop to get a bottle right now!!! Furthermore, he recognizes the growth, expansion and world-wide popularity of Hungarian wines within the past 10 years, is in direct and marked contrast to the neglect of the industry during the Communist era. I was impressed he devoted a total of 15 pages to this subject which is near and dear to my heart (& taste-buds). Furthermore, he does great justice by writing about less familiar, obscure wine-growing regions, such as, Former Yugloslavia: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-herzegovina, and Romania, Bulgaria & even a few from the former Soviet Union. As my main interest is Hungarian wines and he elaborates a great deal on this subject, I am totally satisfied. He also does a phenomenal job of writing about the "elite" wine-growing countries of the world: France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and California, as well as Greece. Another reason this book is so superb is, he includes, South Africa & Zimbabwe; South America: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, & Australia, plus New Zealand. There are many great photos of vineyards, wine cellars, wines, wine bottles, and wine labels from around the world. The information is presented in a matter-of-fact style, but with an underlying flair and finesse for the obvious and unusual. I am so pleased I discovered this book! Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Rating:
Summary: The World of Wine at your Fingertips
Review: Christian Callec has written one of the most comprehensive and unpretentious books on this vast, glorious but often misunderstood subject. For best results, one should, of course, be sipping a glass of one's favorite wine while perusing the book ... The author, the curator of the Dutch Wine Museum for a number of years, has also written books on gastronomy (good food). In my eyes, this *alone* places him ahead of his competitors. Anyone who writes about *good* *food* & *good* *wine* understands *exactly* what makes life worth living: naturally, adding family and friends to this definiton! What *first* sold me on this book was the fine detail and insightful knowledge he shares about Hungarian wine. He thoroughly covers "need to know" information, such as, the wine-growing regions, wine varities, and locations of the best wine-cellars and vineyards in Hungary. I love his descriptions of the various wines. For example, "Tokaji Edes Szamorodni" he states, has "a wonderful bouquet of overripe fruit which in the upper notes are peach, apricot, raisin, almond, vanilla and various floral notes, such as lilly-of-the-valley and many blossoms." The description immediately makes me want to jump up & run to the nearest speciality wine shop to get a bottle right now!!! Furthermore, he recognizes the growth, expansion and world-wide popularity of Hungarian wines within the past 10 years, is in direct and marked contrast to the neglect of the industry during the Communist era. I was impressed he devoted a total of 15 pages to this subject which is near and dear to my heart (& taste-buds). Furthermore, he does great justice by writing about less familiar, obscure wine-growing regions, such as, Former Yugloslavia: Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-herzegovina, and Romania, Bulgaria & even a few from the former Soviet Union. As my main interest is Hungarian wines and he elaborates a great deal on this subject, I am totally satisfied. He also does a phenomenal job of writing about the "elite" wine-growing countries of the world: France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and California, as well as Greece. Another reason this book is so superb is, he includes, South Africa & Zimbabwe; South America: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, & Australia, plus New Zealand. There are many great photos of vineyards, wine cellars, wines, wine bottles, and wine labels from around the world. The information is presented in a matter-of-fact style, but with an underlying flair and finesse for the obvious and unusual. I am so pleased I discovered this book! Erika Borsos (erikab93)
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