Choosing the right wine, A teach yourself book by Beverley Blanning MW
91 out of 100

Published Friday, February 6, 2009

Overview

I have never read a teach yourself book before but this 236 page book has got me thinking about what other topics I’d like to know more about. While most books either look at how to taste wines or talk about regions and grapes in great length, this book does more than superficially covering the key regions and grapes. What I like about it is there is so much to wine that is not about tasting, regions or grapes, and at last there is an excellent book that covers most of it.

The writing is straightforward and the cover and lack of pictures did not fill me with confidence. But once I started reading it I realised what an excellent book it is. Beverly writes in an engaging if slightly dry style, but I found Choosing the Right Wine to be easy and enjoyable read for such a factual book, and while the book can be dipped into for the topics that interest you, it is also suitable for reading from cover to cover, which is the way I read it.

The book is divided into four sections. Introduction, the flavours in wine, wines of the world and the final section on buying, serving, storing wine. On the surface it looks like any other book, but it is the level of information that is included that I felt stood it out as a excellent book. The tips in the book are very good, sensible and practical and gives you some advice on wines to try to get an idea of different styles of wine. The only downside is that the book name Choosing the right wine is a bit misleading, as it only covers choosing wines in the last couple of chapters of this 14 chapter book.

To read this book does take a bit of time, and should only be read by anybody really interested in wine, there are loads of lighter, fluffier books to read if wine is just a passing interest. However if you are an enthusiastic amateur or in the trade this is an excellent book. Those with formal qualifications such as WSET diploma in wine should know pretty much all of this. However it is an excellent resource if you have done the WSET courses below diploma or if you ae doing a diploma as it covers all the interesting things WSET do not cover very well.

My only regret is they didn't publish this book 5 years ago. It would have saved me a lot of hard research. In the end I rated this book 91 out of 100.