Wine Buying Guide for Everyone

wine-buying-guide-for-everyone2 A Guide for Everyone
O.K., maybe it’s not for the millionaire Bordeaux collector or the snobby sommelier at the Ritz-Carlton, but it does give loads of ideas to beginner, intermediate and even advanced wine drinkers. I personally enjoyed the list titled “The Top 50 Wines You’re Not Drinking”, it reminded me to go out and pick up a bottle of “Stonestreet” and “Hill of Content”. Andrea Immer is the personable Master Sommelier who can dazzle us all with her grape know how, but writes like she is just another one of your drinking mates.

With all her credentials in place and about a billion hours of wine study (drinking) under her belt some might think that a Master Sommelier would be putting out a guide titled “My 50 favorite Burgundies you probably can’t afford or find”. Some wine experts would go that route. Andrea goes the other way, delivering something that we all can use when we need the low-down on some delicious wines that we can find and afford.

Andrea’s guide focuses on wines that are accessible to the general public. You will find these wines at your friends house, favorite restaurant or the company x-mas party. So why not get the scoop on them. The guide covers over 400 wines that are ‘available’ around the country. It’s not just a guide for folks on the west coast with a proximity to great juice.

She wants my dad in Texas to be able to use his guide while walking the aisles in some wine shop in Austin. She wants my brother in Missouri to be able to hunt down a good $10 bottle in Kansas City, and she wants me to be able to use the guide in my god-forsaken town in western Massachusetts. You get the idea right? Now onto the guide.

Andrea and her diverse and numerous tasting panel starts off by ranking wines in easily readable lists with headings that any novice drunk can navigate. “Top 20 White Wine Values”, “Top 20 Merlots by Taste”, and “Top 20 Cabernet Values” are just a few of the categories you will find. The guide likes to talk about value, taste and availability. Three things that all readers of this guide can appreciate.

There are tasting notes on each wine listed and Andrea offers up her trademarked rating system concerning open bottles of wine, answering the age-old question, “How long will it keep after I open it?” She tackles this with either a “Kitchen Countertop Survivor” score or a “Kitchen Fridge Survivor” score. This is a handy rating for all of you drinkers out there who like to stretch a bottle out for a couple days.

This guide has some all around nice info on the specific wines that have impressed the tasting panel in each category. When the guide lists some of our favorites like Brancott Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Martin Codax Albarino, and Penfolds Bin 389 Cab-Shiraz, we know that this guide is going to turn a lot of people onto a lot of good wine.

The 250-page guide is compact and is about the size of a wine bottle without the neck. All the major grape profiles are explained, serving recommendations are presented and food and wine pairings are discussed. Handy pronunciation breakdowns are also included on many wine words that Andrea thinks you may need help on. She assists readers with names like Freixenet (freh-shuh-NETT), Selvapiana (SELL-vuh-pee-AH-nuh), and Segura Viudas (seh-GUHR-uh vee-YOU-duss). All in all this is a very handy buying guide that you may use ‘till the cover falls off from constant use.

Andrea has started showing up everywhere lately with her down to earth wine suggestions and helpful hints, so you might as well get on track and start listening.

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