Wine: From Grape to Glass

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding primer on grape growing and wine making
Review: Attention holiday shoppers: This beautiful coffee table book from Abbeville Press would make an excellent gift to any wine lover. The ample photographs throughout are breathtaking. It will definitely inspire you to open a bottle of fine wine. It might even move you to make travel reservations to any one of the wine regions covered in the book.

Unlike many coffee table books, this one is chock-full of substantive information. There are separate and informative chapters on the wines of a host of countries -- France, Spain, the U.S., Australia, Argentina, and many others. The information is well organized and would easily serve as an excellent reference source for each. "Wine: From Grape to Glass" meets the challenge that so many other wine books fail: not too general, not too detailed. For each wine region, there is a history of the wine making in that region, along with enough information about each type of wine from the region to give the reader a firm handle on the wines without bombarding the reader with a list of specific labels and vintages.

Without question, though, the absolute best thing about this book is the extensive coverage of winegrowing, grape varieties, and the craft of winemaking. To his great credit, author Jens Priewe seamlessly integrates some pretty complicated information without cutting corners. Everything about the grape-to-wine process is here: choosing, planting, tending, harvesting, fermenting, and aging.

If you have ever taken "the tour" at any winery and have found yourself wishing you could hear more about the winemaking process - this is the book for you. Priewe includes so much excellent information, that you could probably buy your own vine and make your own wine using this book as your only reference. It's that good.

Rating:
Summary: A Wine Authority and Stunning Images
Review: I manage an online multimedia class on Wine Appreciation and this book is the benchmark. Comprehensive simplicity is achieved throughout, and the images are the best of any wine book on the market. For each region, there are ariel photos, where each winery site is identified for famous areas like Berdeuox, Napa, the Piedmont, etc. This is a perfect book for anyone who loves wine, regarless of prior knowledge.

Rating:
Summary: A Wine Authority and Stunning Images
Review: I manage an online multimedia class on Wine Appreciation and this book is the benchmark. Comprehensive simplicity is achieved throughout, and the images are the best of any wine book on the market. For each region, there are ariel photos, where each winery site is identified for famous areas like Berdeuox, Napa, the Piedmont, etc. This is a perfect book for anyone who loves wine, regarless of prior knowledge.

Rating:
Summary: Great content, beautiful photographs
Review: What first stuck me about this book is its visual beauty. Every single page has illustrations, maps, or stunning photographs which cover every imaginable step in the wine-making process. This book manages to give a wide overview of the considerations that go into making a wine, from "grape to glass", but also provides a fascinating level of detail. This book would be perfect for a wine lover who wants to know more, or even as a reference book for a library.