Archive for the ‘Book review’ Category
Saturday, August 20th, 2011
Not all of the fault can be found in reference books. Robert Parker , Hugh Johnson , Oz Clarke – all very good. But the wine – it’s not just tasting notes and professional terminology sommelier or wine-maker. Wine – it’s part of life. It is accompanied by social events and love the game, brightens up everyday and splash holidays. You can read, for example, special textbooks wine etiquette, but it is possible – just novels and stories about the life of heroes in everyday life are woven into the wine naturally and harmoniously. The truly human information about the wine-in-life may be only in fiction.
Personally, we have recently been gathering a “wine” library – a modern fiction and the classics, in which the topic of wine is quite a significant place. On some volume from our “wine” bookshelf – read our new review of the literature on wine at Fortvayne.
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Tags: art, books, literature, reference, wine, Wine Lover
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Saturday, June 11th, 2011
After Best Sommelier of Italy in 20 years, Enrico Bernardo became World’s Best Sommelier in 2004 to 27 years. In writing this book, he wanted us to convey his passion for wine and some of his knowledge. In this context, the book is divided into two main parts: one on the art of wine tasting and a second where he reviewed the great vineyards of the world.
The approach of Enrico Bernardo tasting is particularly methodical and orderly, witness this long chapter on visual inspection, which opens the book. It is even rare to see this first phase of the tasting so finely detailed, a first phase that many amateurs tend to overlook (me included …)
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Tags: book, Review, taste, wine
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Saturday, June 11th, 2011
Whether the substance or form, this book is a real success, and is the ideal book to create envy. We note first presentation. Superbly illustrated, it is a delight for the eyes, like a promise of enchantment future of our taste buds … Moreover, the structure of the book, always a double page on a given topic, easy to read in part.
The first third is devoted to the general approach of the tasting, including how to approach the wines according to their type. Far too didactic lectures, Pierre Casamayor has found a tone that is both lively and surprisingly practical.
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Tags: book, Review, school of Tasting, wine
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Saturday, June 11th, 2011
In literature on the tasting, the book most often cited as a reference is unquestionably “Taste” of Emile Peynaud (available from the same publisher, now in its 4th edition).
The publisher has released a consumer version, accessible mainly in terms of price, as the share resumed publishing seems important, and the reader quickly understands why the book is so often described as an “unavoidable”.
The emphasis is on sensory approach to tasting: more detail than any technique, the authors put us in a condition that we can move forward. As such, the title of the chapter “Difficulties of tasting and mistakes of the senses” speaks for itself.
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Tags: book, Review, tasting, wine
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Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Jacques Puisais is well known to lovers of gastronomy and wines, winemaker, apostle of “taste just” love of men and the land, avid educator, he founded the Institute of Taste in the 70s to promote emergent the notion of taste in young children.
Denis Hervier knows him well and he has shaped for us this primer, drawn directly from the source … It looks like a small booklet in which we can forage on which we can come back regularly. For, needless to say well, it is not in any of a list of technical terms. No, the purpose here is more general: it is no longer here to guide us, give us ways to better taste and enjoy wine and gastronomy, we encourage them to adopt a certain approach to the pleasures of the palate.
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Tags: gastronomy, Review, wine book, winemaking
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Saturday, November 27th, 2010
Title: Vintage Wine
Author: Michael Broadbent
ISBN: 0316859648
Publisher: Little, Brown
Price: £30 (buy at Amazon -20%)
Subtitled “50 Years of Tasting the World’s Finest Wines”, this new book immediately soars to the top of my wine-lover’s Chrsitmas present list. The irrepressible Michael Broadbent shows no sign of slowing down merely because he is in his 76th year: he is still a Director of Christie’s wine auctions, still travels incessantly around the world to taste the finest wines, and still communtes across London by bicycle. This book is a wonderful guide to 50-years worth of fine wine, region by region, wine by wine, but it is also warm and human, with a delightful anecdotes and wine wisdom sprinkled throughout.
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Tags: book, Review, vintage wine, wine
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Friday, November 26th, 2010
Title: The Which? Wine Guide 2003
Editors: Susan Keevil, Susy Atkins
ISBN: 085202911X
Publisher: Which? Books
Price: £30
First the declaration of interest: for the past couple of years I have been a contributor to this book, writing the guide to wine web sites. The Which? guide is significantly different from all the other anual wine books; Tim Atkin MW recently described it as “the best of the annual wine guides”. What sets it apart? Crammed into 544 pages is a rigorous look at the global wine scene, with the best producers and vintages of each region listed, but then the focus becomes purely UK-oriented. As befits a title from the Consumers’ Association, there are warts ‘n all assessments of well over 200 UK merchants, with all the practical information you need and the low down on on who does what, and how well they do it.
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Thursday, November 25th, 2010
Title: Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Books Wallet 2003
Author: Oz Clarke
ISBN: 0316859621
Publisher: Little, Brown
Price: £10
A clutch of annual wine guides vie for attention at Christmas time each year, from Hugh Johnson, Robert Joseph and others. Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Book has always been the most lively of the lot; it makes up in readability for anything it lacks in sheer volume of information. Johnson may be the definitive, all-encompassing work, but Clarke has more opinion and the more entertaining style. The 2003 book is a slightly larger format which allows longer entries and liberal use of black and white bottle and label shots.
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Tags: book, Review, wine guides
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Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Title: Wine and War
Authors: Donald and Petie Kladstrup
ISBN: 0340766786
Publisher: Coronet
Price: £7.99
As a complete change to my usual diet of wine text books comes this life-affirming book that looks at the role played by France’s vignerons in the second world war. When Hitler’s personal cellar was opened at the end of the war, it contained half a million bottles of France’s very best wines, from Latour, Lafite, et al.
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Tags: book, Review, wine
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Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Title: Greek Wines – A Comprehensive Guide
Author: Geoff Adams
ISBN: 0954203305
Publisher: Winemaster Publishing
Geoff Adams is clearly a man possessed by the charms of Greek wines. His exhaustively well-informed book has just been published, and is aimed specifically at the UK market with comprehensive lists of UK stockists and importers of those wines currently available in this market. Greek winemaking has made huge strides in recent years, and many consumers have already discovered how good modern Greek wines can be through innovative retailers like Oddbins.
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Tags: book, greek wines, guide, Review, wine, winemaking
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