Books of Knowledge

Archive for the ‘Wine’ Category

Windows on the World Complete Wine Course is simply the bestselling wine book in North America—it’s a classic. In addition to retaining the expanded 60-page section on “101 Wines You Should Know,” from last year, the 2009 revision will include 16 pages of quizzes (two at the end of every chapter) to test readers on how much they’ve learned—just as if they were in Kevin’s class. Those who use the book as an actual course will find this enormously helpful, and a great challenge for testing their knowledge of wine fundamentals. Of course, all wine lists and labels, vintage charts, and trend reports will receive a complete update, too.
As always, Zraly organizes his wines by region, from simple to complex, beginning with white wines from France, the U.S., and Germany; he moves on to the red wines of Burgundy and the Rhône, Bordeaux, the U.S., Italy, Australia, Argentina, and Chile; and concludes with champagnes and ports. By following Kevin?… More >>
Windows on the World Complete Wine Course: 2009 Edition

Written by a vintner and science editor with twenty-five years experience, The Way to Make Wine is the most readable and reliable handbook among the many winemaking guides. In engaging conversational prose, Sheridan Warrick shows that making your own wine is not only easy, but also fun. Geared to everyday wine lovers who want to drink well, save money, and impress their friends, this book reveals everything needed to make delicious wines–both reds and whites–from start to finish.
Warrick demystifies winemaking by explaining the nuts and bolts and demonstrating that if readers can replace a faucet washer or cook a pasta sauce, they can make food-friendly wines that cost less than the bottles they’re now opening. He enables amateur vintners to equip a home winery, procure top-quality grapes, run a flawless fermentation, and enjoy their wine–its nose, its body, and finish–with renewed awareness and appreciation. At the same time, the author points exp… More >>
The Way to Make Wine: How to Craft Superb Table Wines at Home

Updated for 2010 and covering 50 percent more wines, it’s the breakthrough wine guide that enamored the media?”Devilishly delightful” (Dallas Morning News), “Everyday wine drinkers can rejoice” (Newsweek), rattled the snobs?”Malicious duplicity!” (Wine Spectator) ?and caught the attention of consumers looking to drink better wines for less.

Now the hardworking authors and editors, along with a double-blind panel of wine experts and consumers, blind-tasted wines under $15 that will be available to consumers in 2009 and 2010. The Wine Trials 2010 will reveal the 150 winners of this year’s competition?the best wines on the market for under $15.

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The Wine Trials 2010: The World’s Bestselling Guide to Inexpensive Wines, with the 150 Winning Wines Under $15 from the Latest Vintages

The remarkable untold story of France’s courageous, clever vinters who protected and rescued the country’s most treasured commodity from German plunder during World War II.

“To be a Frenchman means to fight for your country and its wine.”
–Claude Terrail, owner, Restaurant La Tour d’Argent

In 1940, France fell to the Nazis and almost immediately the German army began a campaign of pillaging one of the assets the French hold most dear: their wine. Like others in the French Resistance, winemakers mobilized to oppose their occupiers, but the tale of their extraordinary efforts has remained largely unknown–until now. This is the thrilling and harrowing story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their cherished crops and bottles as the Germans closed in on them. Wine and War illuminates a compelling, little-known chapter of history, and stands as a tribute to extraordinary individuals… More >>
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure

THE WINE BIBLE is like a lively course from an expert teacher, grounded deeply in the fundamentals and enriched with passionate opinions, asides, tips, anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, illustrations, maps, charts, and wine labels-everything, in fact, but the actual wine itself. Beginning with the basics of mastering wine-how to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory, understanding the subtle interplay of variety, vineyard, and vintner to demystifying the issue of vintages-it covers the essentials: The emotion and intrigue of Burgundy. Rhne’s untamed reds. The flinty pleasures of sauvignon blanc and surprising delicacy of Spain’s Riojas. Bordeaux, the largest fine wine vineyard on the globe and epitome of terroir. Fourteen Sonoma wines to know. The importance of finish. Tuscany, kingom of variable microclimates. The precise and food-friendly wines of Germany. The narrow 30-mile stretch of ambition, experimentation, and surpassing quality called… More >>
The Wine Bible