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Increase Your Wine Knowledge One Book at a Time
• by Chet McKay
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Choosing wine can be as much a part of your life as your palate. Regardless of whether you are a frequent traveler through wine country or ready to venture out for the first time both research and tasting, in varying degrees, will be required.
There has always been an unfortunate snob appeal associated with wines primarily because some people are “in the know” and some aren’t. Often, those who are in the know present the information in a condescending manner. Case in point: If I am talking with someone who is a baseball fanatic (as many St. Louisans rightly are) and they are passionately rattling off Cardinals’ stats, rosters and schedules, it’s a useful exchange of information because I have a rudimentary understanding of the game stemming from my stint as an underpaid center fielder in the eighth grade. However, when I change the topic to wine and toss in the fact that when the Cards were heading to the World Series in ‘82 there were grape pickers shuffling through the vineyards of Bordeaux and plucking some of the most sublime grapes of the modern era, the conversation turns snobbish quickly. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all just get along? Wouldn’t it be nice if wine people presented the information as “something of interest” rather than, “I can’t believe you haven’t heard of…?”
The bottom line is, wine is overwhelming. It is comprised of many different characteristics ranging from variety of grape to vintage year to vineyard – so on and so forth. There are wine lovers who want to clearly identify each of these elements per bottle and others who prefer to just simply enjoy it at home or accentuate a dinner party.
Today, there are books and magazines available that lend to the agricultural and technological palate of some and the “just the facts” desire of others. If you are looking for your first wine book, check out these great titles: “Wine for Dummies”; “Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier” by Andrea Immer; “How to Taste: A Guide to Enjoying Wine” by Jancis Robinson; the recently updated “The World Atlas of Wine” by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson; and “Wine by Style: A Practical Guide to Choosing Wine by Flavor, Weight and Colour” by Fiona Beckett. If you are just becoming interested in wine or want to learn the basics, these are must reads.
The “usual suspects” in the experienced wine book arena are mostly prolific wine writers or “old school” masters of wine (MW). Authors of interest are: Jancis Robinson MW, Clive Coates MW, Hugh Johnson and Robert Parker. These writers provide a very in-depth look at wine in a textbook style and provide tremendous technical information for the wine aficionado. And, to finish off your book collection you must own a copy of the “Oxford Companion to Wine.”
Two other superb reads include: “Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France” by Kermit Lynch and “Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes from a Marriage” by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher. Gaiter and Brecher are authors of the Wall Street Journal’s “Tastings” column. These books are more insightful rather than informational and provide a look into how wonderful life can be when enjoyed with wine.
Finally, periodicals, journals and the Internet are other great ways to increase your wine knowledge. The Wine Spectator is hands down the most influential wine magazine in the United States, but do yourself a flavor and use the ratings as a guide rather than an absolute. There are also several professional journals available but truthfully you should learn the basics before investing in any of these.
As my father always told me, there are three things you should own in life: a house, a car and a wine book. The wine book increases your enjoyment of the wine you’re drinking while trying to figure out how to pay for the house and car.
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