Some wines will be more to your taste than others, while a few will be frankly disappointing and a waste of hard-earned money. How, then, can you gain confidence as to what the wines in your local wine shop or supermarket will taste like and avoid unwise choices? This book will provide a strategy for understanding the world of wine that's based on a familiarity with both wine tastes and wine styles.
It explores the three variables that determine a wine's taste: grapes, places and people. And after tackling taste, it moves on to wine styles. Dividing wines into stylistic groups according to their colour, body and whether they are still, sparkling or fortified, gives you the opportunity to explore wine's vast landscape. It is also useful, in that most of us want to buy a particular style of wine for supper tonight - perhaps a medium-bodied red, rather than, say, something from the Languedoc hills, or the Napa Valley.
The book also discusses the essentials that help our enjoyment of wine, offering advice on buying, cellaring and serving. Wine faults are also covered, enabling you to assess whether a wine is actually substandard or just not to your taste, and the issues of wine-and-food matching and choosing wine in restaurants are discussed. The unique approach of this book not only provides an understanding and a basic knowledge of wine but also captures the enormous pleasure it offers.
