Wow. This book is what every wine introduction aspires to be.

books:


	• Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson Broadway, 2005 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 53 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wow. This book is what every wine introduction aspires to be.

For years, I was in the category of people who liked wine, or at least SOME wine, but wasn't quite sure how to proceed. Every so often, I'd buy one of those wine tasting kits, or pick up a book for wine beginners, but they never got me very far. Either they required a major financial and social commitment (HOW many bottles do you want me to buy for this tasting? and do I have, say, 8 other friends who'd want to participate? can they all show up on Friday night, without me having to cook?), or they threw around terms that they expected me to understand intuitively. It didn't help a lot.

Over time, I learned to identify the sort of wines I like (in my case, that means nearly any German riesling), but I never got smarter. I never learned how to explore wine in a direction that I would probably enjoy. I knew I'd be certain to make expensive mistakes.

After catching a couple of episodes of Andrea Immer's TV show on the Fine Living channel, however, I picked up a copy of Great Wine Made Simple. Dagnabit, this woman has done it: she's made the whole subject *understandable.* I didn't realize how much I'd learned until I attended a local wine tasting. I knew what I liked about the wines presented to me (which wasn't much), and I could recognize the attributes I disliked. Wow; beforehand, I wouldn't have said much more than "I don't like it."

This book has _totally_ changed the way I interact with wine, and I know that I'll never again be intimidated by a wine list.

That's because Immer teaches one set of attributes at a time, such as what is meant by a wine's body, or the differences between New World and Old World wines. She also (rather brilliantly, as far as I'm concerned) gets you to place the wines you've liked on a map. I discovered that I like light-bodied wines from colder regions (which explains my affinity for German riesling and Washington state Pinot Noir). And it means that I will probably like wines from the Loire region of France; I'd NEVER have known that before.

Plus, the book lets you work on one thing at a time, in a very affordable manner. You don't have to start with the wine tastings in chapter 1 and proceed through them, one at a time, as though you're taking College Algebra. For each tasting, she suggests brands that are affordable to mere mortals, and which you're likely to find in your local market; you don't have to wander into a fine wine market (at least not right away). We jumped to the middle of the book, and did her comparison of Old/New World rieslings, using two bottles that cost $8.99 each.

Can you tell that I'm impressed? I am. This is the book I've been looking for, for several years. I highly recommend it.

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Fantastic Book Even for Non-Beginners

I purchased this book for my daughter who is turning 21 next month. I thought it was important for her to be able to intelligently choose wine while at the wine shop and also to be able to read the sometimes intimidating wine lists and "books" in restaurants. I also purchased this book as a Christmas gift for a friend that enjoys wine.

I picked up my daughter's book yesterday and I have been unable to put it down. While I consider myself to be fairly well-versed in domestic wines (I have been to Napa a few times, and have gone to some local tasting/educational events, and have been to our local wineries and some wineries in Virginia quite often), I have recently become enamored with French wines. Although I admittedly can't read the labels and only have some vague idea of what kinds of grapes are used to make these wonderful wines, I'd been going to the wine shop and purchasing wines based upon their point ratings and recommendations of the staff. Thanks to Andrea's book, I now understand the labels, wine growing regions and the kinds of grapes grown in each. The same goes for Italian wines which I enjoy very much, but knew very little about. Now I can go in with my eyes open and know that a Bordeaux contains Cabernet and Merlot (in varying amounts depending on whether the grapes grow to the left or right of the river) and know that red Burgundy is pinot noir and white Burgundy is chardonnay. Also, based on all of Andrea's raving about Riesling, I will start trying some. I have always associated Riesling with the ghastly Blue Nun/Liebfraumilch and have steered clear.

This book contains a voluminous amount of information. It will appeal to people that want data presented in a straightforward, no-nonsense, unpretentious way. You never get the impression that Ms. Robinson is a wine snob -- she takes the mystique and intimidation out of tasting wine. She makes recommendations in various price ranges to make wine accessible to the average person. I like this book because it appeals to my organized, analytical nature: it contains lots of maps, lists, tables, etc. making it very easy to find the information you're looking for. I wish there was a little more info. on the smaller, boutique wineries, and more information on other grapes besides the "big six", but Ms. Robinson has apparently made wine selections based on wines from larger producers that are generally available everywhere.

This is the first wine book I've purchased; I have looked at many others, but found them not to be useful. This book is well-organized, practical, readable and above-all quite comprehensive and informative. I recommend buying it for anyone that enjoys wine.

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A favorite

Concise, entertaining, educational, and -- best of all -- interactive (lots of tastings!) In a word: wonderful! I keep coming back to this one.

This book is AWESOME

It teaches you how to enjoy wine without turning you into a snob - or a pauper.

Andrea is Amazing

Andrea Immer Robinson is absolutely amazing. She makes wine seem so simple with her tasting groupings, charts and descriptions. Reading this book really teaches you about wine from what to taste and good bottles to represent different types of wines. Great Guide for both beginners and experts! A must read for anyone interested in learning about wine.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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