Just What the Doctor Ordered

books:


	• Wine For Dummies (For Dummies (Cooking)) Ed McCarthy, Ewing-Mulliga Mary For Dummies, 2006 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 61 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Art of Wine

To educate myself about wine, I've read several books on the topic. I find that Wine For Dummies, 4th edition, suits my needs and tastes best. Wine For Dummies is thorough and easy to imbibe, definitely a top-shelf Dummies title. I own about a dozen For Dummies books and love them all (so call me a "dummy" but Dummies books have made me smart!). I am sure that this vintage guide, like many of the fine wines it celebrates, will age well. Ten years from now (when the '05 Bordeaux are mature and ready to pour), I will still be able to glean helpful hints from its pages before restocking the wine cellar, or in my case, the homemade, basement wine rack. My wife and I have happily sampled many of the wines that the book recommends. When we sip a Margaux or a Barolo, we often let the wine whisk us off to the landscapes where the grapes grew. In our imaginations, aided by Wine for Dummies' brief descriptions, we can almost see the grapes ripening on Tuscan hills or the slopes of the Cote de Nuits. Why not, the weather of each vintage is still in the grapes; why shouldn't the landscapes live on in the wines? Recently we've discovered a way to enhance our Out-Of-Ohio experiences and bring those faraway places into sharper focus. We read Art History For Dummies while sipping our favorite Wine For Dummies-inspired vintages.

Art History and wine go together as well as, well, wine and cheese. We've learned to taste particular wines while savoring specific chapters of Art History. What a cultural banquet and tour! It's like simultaneously tasting and seeing France, Italy or Spain, without forking out $1,000 for a plane ticket or vacationing on jet lag!

Here's our short list of wine and art history pairings:

While reading chapter 13 in Art History For Dummies, "Going Loco with Rococo," we sipped an Italian bubbly called Prosecco (which Wine For Dummies calls "eminently affordable")--though pink champagne may be a more fitting match since both Rococo and champagne derive from French soil. Or try a little of both! Art History for Dummies says, "In the early 18th century, the upper classes--first in France, then all over Europe--rejected Baroque sobriety and got DRUNK [my emphasis] on ornamentation: swirling fanciful curves; bright pastel colors; dripping gold filigree; and sensuous scenery." It was a partying period. What better way to wobble your way back to the Rococo than with a Wine For Dummies' flight.

Wine For Dummies calls wine "the lifeblood of the Italian people." We've found that reading about the Italian Renaissance while drinking a velvety Italian red like Barolo, Amarone, or a Barbera d'Asti really heightens the experience--you get right into that Italian lifeblood. Wine For Dummies says "Both Barolo and Barbaresco are robust reds....Their aromas suggest tar, violets, roses, ripe strawberries, and (sometimes) truffles." To me, they now also suggest Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo! (I must add that the Da Vinci section of Art History For Dummies includes an enlightening Da Vinci Code detour--I wouldn't sip too much while navigating this sub-section.)

If you prefer something more exotic as you delve into the Venetian Renaissance (chapter 12), try a Bellini. Art History For Dummies says, "If you order a Bellini in a bar, the bartender will serve you a drink made from white peaches and Italian champagne. The mixture has a distinct pink glow...the same beautiful shade of pink that Giovanni Bellini once mixed on his palette and applied to such masterpieces as his San Zaccaria Altarpiece in Venice. What better compliment for a Renaissance painter than to have the colors he mixed 500 years ago still inspire revelers today!"

For the Spanish Baroque crack open a Rioja, which Wine For Dummies says "rules the roost," or better yet a Ribera, especially while letting your eyes wander over the mystical canvases of Jusepe de Ribera! WFD says of this Spanish red: "Perhaps no where else in the world does the Tempranillo grape variety reach such heights, making wines with body, deep color and finesse." Sounds almost like they're describing a Spanish painting.

We matched a Cote du Rhone with the Post-Impressionism chapter, especially the sections on van Gogh and Cezanne, who painted in Provence, just south of the Rhone region. Wine For Dummies says Cote du Rhone "is one of the best, inexpensive red wines in the world." Even van Gogh could afford it! WFD gets a little art-historical in this section: "Provence...may be France's most beautiful region. Home of the Riviera, Nice and Cannes, it's certainly the country's most fashionable and touristy region. But it's also an ancient land, with a thriving old capital Aix-en-Provence. The excellent light and climate have always attracted great artists--such as Vincent van Gogh--who painted many of their best works here. Wine has always been part of Provence's culture and economy." You might also try the Les Baux-de-Provence or a Bandol, which WFD notes "enjoys Provence's greatest reputation for reds."

Hands down, most people's favorite "art ism" is Impressionism. For French Impressionism, I suggest a summery French rosé. Or if you prefer to digest your Monets and Renoirs with a shimmering white, uncork a Vouvray from the Loire Valley or a Chablis from Northern Burgundy and picture yourself sitting at the front table in Renoir's Moulin de la Galette: "Sunlight filtering through the surrounding trees bathes the gay company in dappled light, lending a breezy look to the scene, which gives it both immediacy and the feeling of an unending summer." (Art History for Dummies)

For the section on American Abstract Expressionists, especially Jackson Pollock, we opened a Ravenswood Zin, a dazzling Sonoma wine that really attunes you to what AHFD call's Pollock's "exhilarating explosions of energy on canvas." Just don't spill or splash your wine.

Together both Dummies books provide a rich cultural journey that will uplift anyone's tastes.

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Just What the Doctor Ordered

You will actually learn a lot from this entry in the "...for Dummies" series. It lacks the rigor and scholarship of most of the "...for Dummies" books, but you'll know more when you finish it than you did before you started. You'll learn that most wine flavors are actually aromas, you'll learn about tannins, what is in balance in a "balanced" wine, what oak barrels do, and even what malolactic fermentation is (it's what makes Chardonnay "buttery.") You'll definitely learn what grapes are used to make our familiar wines, and you'll learn technical terms, like "extract," and "foxy." You'll learn the difference between "fermented" in oak, versus "aged" in oak. And you'll learn all about corkscrews. Unfortunately, the authors' efforts to lighten the subject with humor completely fails; it seems slapstick after the interesting material they cover. One of the authors' primary messages is that wine is a matter of taste, and we should all have the confidence to make up our own minds. They help us with the vocabulary we'll need to communicate our conclusions to others, and they convey their affection for their specialty. You may roll your eyeballs when they gush over France and French wines, but we actually do owe the French our gratitude for its contribution to viniculture. Read "Wine for Dummies" to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, and skip the jokes.

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Simple and exhaustive

This book is perfect for anybody who (like me before) does not know anything, or not that much about wine.

From the wine making to the etiquette, and going through the particular wine (champagne, sherry, port...), all the subjects to understand the basics are discussed.

I think the way the information is organized is also very well thought to teach about wine to ... well ..dummies! It is very easy to read and well explained.
After having browsed this book, you will be able to understand much better about wine, and even to talk about it.

I was a little surprised not to find any topic about history, role in society etc... this book is just an introduction and just gives you the tool to enjoy a bottle of wine. Do not expect to be an expert about wine regarding economy or history.

My only criticism would be the way French, Italian and Spanish wine have been quickly treated. For instance, I would have liked to have a few names of good producers from Alsace... but instead I was advised to buy the French Wine for Dummies!!!

In a nutshell : a good buy and I will keep this book on my shelf to refresh my memory once in a while.

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rcarney

So you want to get an idea about how and why's of wine in the world. This is the book.

Great book for beginners!

This book is really helping me learn the basics of wine. It helps you know what to look for in a good wine, and to help direct you to wines you may like. I am really enjoying it!

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

Wine enthusiasts and novices, raise your glasses! The #1 wine book has been extensively updated! If you?re a connoisseur, Wine For Dummies, Fourth Edition will get you up to speed on what?s in and show you how to take your hobby to the next level. If you?re new to the world of wine, it will clue you in on what you?ve been missing and show you how to get started. It begins with the basic types of wine, how wines are made, and more. Then it gets down to specifics: How to handle snooty wine clerks, navigate restaurant wine lists, decipher cryptic wine labels, and dislodge stubborn corks How to sniff and taste wine How to store and pour wine and pair it with food Four white wine styles: fresh, unoaked; earthy; aromatic; rich, oaky Four red wine styles: soft, fruity, and relatively light-bodied; mild-mannered, medium-bodied; spicy; powerful, full-bodied, and tannic What?s happening in the ?Old World? of wine, including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Greece What?s how (and what?s not) in the New World of Wine, including Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa U.S. wines from California, Oregon, Washington, and New York Bubbling beauties and medieval sweets: champagne, sparkling wines, sherry, port, and other exotic dessert wines

Authors Ed McCarthy, CWE, who is a regular contributor to Wine Enthusiast and The Wine Journal and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, MW, who owns the International Wine Center in New York, have co-authored six wine books in the For Dummies series. In an easy-to-understand, unpretentious style that?s as refreshing as a glass of Chardonnay on a summer day, they provide practical information to help you enjoy wine, including: Real Deal symbols that alert you to good wines that are low in price compared to other wines of similar type, style, or quality A Vintage Wine Chart with specifics on numerous wines Info on ordering wine from out of state, collecting wine, and more

Wine For Dummies, Fourth Edition is not just a great resource and reference, it?s a good read. It?s full-bodied, yet light?rich, yet crisp?robust, yet refreshing?.

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