The Wine Lover's Companion

Rating:
Summary: Great for both novices and experts!
Review: I got this book because the owner of a wine store I buy from said it was the best, all-around reference he'd ever seen. "I always find what I'm looking for," he said. This guy's an expert so that was good enough for me. And he was right. This book is packed full of an incredible amount of useful wine information. I particularly like the phonetic pronunciations, which make me sound like I know what I'm talking about. Thanks to this book, I'm no longer intimidated when I'm talking about, ordering, buying or simply enjoying good wine. It's great for everyone from beginners to experts!

Rating:
Summary: Great for both novices and experts!
Review: I got this book because the owner of a wine store I buy from said it was the best, all-around reference he'd ever seen. "I always find what I'm looking for," he said. This guy's an expert so that was good enough for me. And he was right. This book is packed full of an incredible amount of useful wine information. I particularly like the phonetic pronunciations, which make me sound like I know what I'm talking about. Thanks to this book, I'm no longer intimidated when I'm talking about, ordering, buying or simply enjoying good wine. It's great for everyone from beginners to experts!

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive yet compact. Great wine resource for the $
Review: I work part-time in the wine industry and found this book to be a wonderfully comprehensive, concise resource on wine growing, making and drinking. (There's a great companion book by the same authors on food.)

The sample pages show the depth of the definitions. The book is not nearly as detailed as Jancis Robinson's The Oxford Companion to Wine--which all serious wine industry people should have in their library. But neither is it as expensive nor as cumbersome. You can actually take this book to a wine tasting or have it beside you at a wine event or in a tasting room.

This is not simply for wine "drinkers" --comparing varietals, regions and/or vintages. It does give generic information to the wine drinker: types of wine and grapes, taste (earthy, fruity), typical cellaring time, what makes a good representation of that wine. But it doesn't give information on a specific bottle of wine. That's more appropriate in a time sensitive format.

But this book does cover the whole spectrum of winegrowing to wine drinking. It's a good resource for:
·An introductory winegrowing (viticulture) class since it explains the various bacteria, mildew, grape components, etc.
·An introductory winemaking (enology) class since it explains fermentation (primary, stuck and malolactic), brettanomyces, chaptalization, etc.
·Wine drinkers who have an occasional question about a grape varietal, a wine region or a wine term.

It is not the MOST comprehensive resource. That would be the Oxford Companion. But the only person who has found it lacking has been a friend who is studying for the Masters of Wine designation. That's a process that requires you to know all the wines in every country.

The only change I'd suggest would be to drop the names of the US wineries except for the truly historic ones like Gallo and Mondavi--and those that pioneered winemaking in the US. We now have over 800 wineries in California and more are being added yearly. A book like this can't keep up. And shouldn't try. It's enough to include AVA's--several new ones were added last year. To list a sample of current wineries gives a "hit-or-miss" feeling to this book. And it's clearly well organized and researched.

I bought four of these books last year (along with the Food Lover's Companion) to use as gifts--including one set to a winemaker. This year I used the Wine Lover's Companion as a speaker gift in a community college Wine Marketing class. Even speakers who ALREADY HAD the book appreciated it! A restauranteer said his copy was always upstairs when someone downstairs needed it, etc. A wine retailer said one of the nice things about it was that it included pronounciations....can we say Mourvedre? sure we can.. at least with this book.. : )

Rating:
Summary: Great for Non-French beginners
Review: What really drew me to this book was the phoenetic entries for all those hard-to-say words. I myself enjoy wine immensely, however I was always a little embaressed asking for some things in resaraunts because gross mispronunciation can make one sound ignorant. The size of the book allows easy strorage in the pocket for those quick references while at the wine store or a fine dining restaraunt.

Rating:
Summary: Great for Non-French beginners
Review: What really drew me to this book was the phoenetic entries for all those hard-to-say words. I myself enjoy wine immensely, however I was always a little embaressed asking for some things in resaraunts because gross mispronunciation can make one sound ignorant. The size of the book allows easy strorage in the pocket for those quick references while at the wine store or a fine dining restaraunt.