Reddit reviews The Wine Bible
We found 17 Reddit comments about The Wine Bible. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
The most complete wine bookAuthoritative and entertainingDetailed coverage of regions, grapes, food pairings and wine-tastingsPaperbackShips next business day
https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Bible-Karen-MacNeil/dp/1563054345
Available on Kindle.
Edit: 2nd edition is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Bible-Karen-MacNeil/dp/0761180834/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
Maybe you're looking for something more exhaustive, but I really appreciated The Wine Bible, by Karen MacNeil. If I recall correctly, she was a travel writer before discovering wine, so her approach to the book was to go region-by-region and describe the place, the people, the food, the local grapes and then the local wine itself. So, she provides a lot of great context.
I actually read the book cover to cover and it made me want to try every varietal and style in the book. Didn't succeed but had a damn good time trying.
Edit: I gave too many damns.
Buy The Wine Bible
It's a cross between an Encyclopedia and a Novel. It's a great read, and its extremely thorough and informative. After reading cover to cover, you're ready to take your Level One Sommelier exam.
Drink This - Wine Made Simple - Great book for beginners
The Wine Bible
The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert - Seems like it's a joke, and it sooort of is, but there's some good information there, and the scratch and sniff thing is actually quite useful.
The World Atlas of Wine - Pretty much the ultimate wine book. If you don't want to spend that much on it, consider buying a used copy of the older edition. You can get it for just a few bucks. Obviously it won't be as up to date, but it's still extremely useful.
Pairing Food and Wine for Dummies - John Szabo is legit
Great Wine Made Simple
Up until recently I worked at a book store, these were the books I recommended most frequently to people. If you want ones about specific regions, there are some good ones out there too. These are all more general.
Congratulations.
Web: Check out the links in our FAQ thread. Most of the better wine sites have learning sections that teach the basics. Or, for that matter the Wine Wiki is a good springboard to learning about things like the classifications of wine and an intro to tasting, etc.
Books:
Here is the desktop version of your link
andtheodor beat me to the question by question post, but I am up late and can't sleep, so I will take a stab at this as well (BTW, andtheodor is a great resource for wine questions, he/she really knows his/her stuff)
> What are some good online resources?
Wikipedia is a good resource for definitions and wine classification laws by region.
> Is there a simple way to classify wines (beyond red,white, blush)?
Most wines are classified on a menu by red, white, blend, rose. Many good wine lists categorize by region. There isn't a standard way to classify wine. Sometimes it's by varietal, region, or by flavor profile. Depends on what the restaurant or wine shop wants to cater to.
> When I read the words bouquet or spice, does that mean the wine was actually made with these, or just that it gives of that taste/aroma?
Wine is made from grapes (generally speaking, I'm not talking about apple wine and stuff) and most laws don't allow anything to be added to the must (must is un-fermented juice). Bouquet is referring to the nose, or smell. Spice is a aroma/tasting note commonly found in Zinfandel or Syrah. Sometimes it's a baking spice you taste/smell, other times it's pepper.
> What would you call a chianti that uses more than just sangiovese? A blend?
Chianti means it's from that region in Italy. Some Chianti is blended, but has to be a certain percentage of sangiovese to be legally called Chianti. A sangiovese from Tuscany (where Chianti is) that does not adhere to the rules to be called Chianti is sometimes referred to as a "Super Tuscan."
> If it is a blend, does it means that it was mixed after fermentation?
If it is blended before crush while harvesting (then crushed together), this is referred to as a field blend. Most are blended after fermentation, but not always.
> What do you call a wine using only 1 grape?
It is called a single varietal. This is a bit of a misnomer though, as many wines in CA labeled 'Cabernet' for example, only have to be 80% Cab to have it labelled as such. Some wines are 100% varietal, some are blended. It depends on the laws of the region it is from on how it is labelled.
> When pairing with foods, are there any rules of thumb? (besides the old red w/ red, white w/ white).
There are too many pairing rules of thumb to list. Sometimes you contrast a food/wine, sometimes you complement. Depends on the dish & wine. Learn what the parings are for every item on the menu, I'm sure they will train you on this.
> Also, I tried chianti with chicken parmesan and lasagna today. I do not like the wine itself. But after sipping the wine and then taking a bite of food, the food seemed to have a whole new level of flavor. But then going back to the wine after the bite, I didn't like the wine - it almost tasted worse. Should it be a mutual relationship? Or is that just kind of the way it is?
Depends. Italian wines are notorious for being 'food wines' in that they are made to complement a meal. You may just not like the Chianti you were drinking. They range in profile from earthy to sometimes almost fruity. Wine should always be good on it's own, but better with the dish it's served with.
> There seems to be hundreds of different grapes. Are they all suitable for wine?
In general, you are looking for vitis vinifera grapes, those are the species you make into wine (for the most part). Other vitis species are made into wines, but vinifera is what you should concern yourself with. Learn the varietals of Italy, since it sounds like that is what you will need to know.
> Regional wines? I understand that they come from certain regions. But how do they fit into the grand scheme of things? (i know this is a poorly devised question. You have artistic freedom here)
Region is as important as the varietal. A Napa chardonnay is completely different than a white Burgundy (also chardonnay, but from the Burgundy region in France). Sometimes wines are labelled by varietal, sometimes it's by region. Depends on the laws of the country it is from.
> If I know the basics about, say, Chianti, will it pair with food fairly well no matter the brand/blend? For example, If I recommend a Chianti that is 100% sangiovese, will it pretty much pair just as well if I recommend one that used Sangiovese and Canailo grapes?
Not necessarily. You need to know each specific Chianti and what it pairs with, as Chianti can be different in style depending on the producer/bottler . Just because it says Chianti doesn't mean it's a concrete flavor profile. They can span the spectrum in style depending on how they are blended.
> Naming "systems": Pinot grigio is named after a species of grape. Are all single grape wines named by the grape? Also, if they contain more than 1 grape, are they all almost exclusively named by region? How else could/would they be named? I think this kind of goes back to question #2
Varietal labeling is a new world thing (US and Aussie wines) while regional labeling is an old world thing (European wines). France, for example, allows their vin de pays classified wines to label by varietal, while AOC wines must use region (except for Alsace). Italy is crazy because sometimes wines are named for region (Chianti, Valpolicella, Barolo, etc.) while sometimes wines from those regions are named by varietal (sangiovese, pinot grigio, nebiollo, etc.) Just because it is named by region does not mean it is a blend. Red Burgundy from France for example, must be 100% pinot noir by law.
Lots of good questions here, but I agree that you are asking too specific questions. Buy the Wine Bible and read the first parts on intro, viticulture, & wine making, then read the section on Italy. It will take only a few hours to read all that, and you will be in a good position to 'fake' your way through the rest. Good Luck!
Naturally, of course, you could pick up any red from Burgundy, as that's Pinot Noir's homeland. It's actually pretty enlightening to compare the European and American styles of the same type of wine. Still, for true varietal variety, you've got a few choices.
Probably the easiest to find alternatives would be a wine from either a Beaujolais (made from gamay)or a Rioja (made from tempranillo). The former gets a bad rap because of Beaujolais Nouveau being a generally cheap fruit-bomb, but the better quality and more aged wines are a fantastic PN alternative. Look for anything labelled Beaujolais Villages ("Villages" is basically the mid-range rank in the screwy French system). There are also the high level Cru wines, but they drop Beaujolais from their label in exchange for the name of the Cru. Brouilly cru wines seem pretty easy to find, but you can google up the rest; there's less than a dozen.
For a Rioja, you'll want to keep in mind the aging system: crianza, reserva, gran reserva. It measures how long the wine spends in oak before bottling. A crianza might be a bit too sharp to stand in for a PN and a gran reserva maybe a bit too oaky and stout, but a reserva would be a good choice. You could also investigate wines from the next region over, Ribera del Duero, which makes a similar style of wines (though they call their tempranillo "tinto fino" and claim it's different).
For harder to find choices you could stay in Spain and try wines from Bierzo. The wines are made mostly from a grape called mencia, which yields a lot of PN qualities, if a bit more mineral/earthy than your average pinot. There are some truly amazing (if sadly not well known) PN alternatives in Austria.
Several of the key red varietals from Austria (blaufrankisch, st. laurent, and their hybrid, zweigelt) could do a good job replacing pinot noir. The first time I tasted a zweigelt, I actually thought I had stumbled onto some strange and deeply-satisfying blend of pinot and syrah. The downside is that Austrian wine isn't exactly taking the American market by storm. You can sometimes find German blaufrankisches, but they call the grape Lemberger. You could also cheat at subbing out pinot noir by grabbing a blauburgunder or spatburgunder, which are simply the Austrian and German terms for Pinot Noir. Good luck finding them though.
If you want to learn more about European wines, I'd recommend Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible. It is an incredibly comprehensive source for the major wine styles and regions. Technically it covers the entire world of wine, but it has a definite focus on the Big 3 (France, Italy, and Spain).
Wine:
Windows on the World - Kevin Zraly
The Wine Bible - Karen MacNeil
The World Atlas of Wine - Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson
Cooking:
The Professional Chef - The Culinary Institute of America
The Culinary Institute of America book page on Amazon
The Flavor Bible - Karen Page
http://tv.winelibrary.com/ is always a good start.
Books that come to mind include From vines to wines and The Wine Bible. Check out Oz ans James' Wine Adventure, too. It's a British TV series following around James May (Captain slow of Top Gear fame) and Oz Clark (super cork dork) ad they taste through France and CA. It is hilarious and introduces some beginner knowledge brilliantly, along with slipping in some serious cork-dorky facts.
Also keep in mind that /r/wine is full of oenophiles and more than a few of us work in the industry and are happy to drop some knowledge.
I've been looking for something similar. I have read Tasting Beer and am currently reading Tasting Whiskey. I love the format of both of them.
Most wine books I've found are much easier to read by section as a reference than to read straight through. If you've looked at the Oxford Companion to Beer, a lot of them are kind of like that (and not just the Oxford Companion to Wine).
In order of most narrative to most reference I recommend:
Wine for Dummies (not kidding, nor to be confused with An Idiot's Guide to Wine)
Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Complete Wine Course (reminds me of Bernstein's Complete Beer Course)
The Wine Bible
The World Atlas of Wine
The Oxford Companion to Wine
I once tried to read A Beer Drinker's Guide to Knowing and Enjoying Fine Wine. I couldn't read much of it because its tone seemed a little too... forced conversational.
Wine Bible
read zraly or, redditors claim, macneil, then anything from jancis robinson. drink what the book tells you to drink.
The three books I found most helpful that aren't super expensive:
For General Knowledge:
Oldman's Guide to Outsmarting Wine
For Tasting:
How to Taste: A Guide to Enjoying Wine
For More Detailed Knowledge of Regions:
The Wine Bible
You can get those three for $50 total and if you read through them and do some of the things they say, and try some of what is mentioned, you will notice yourself getting really informed really quickly.
After a few months with these books, you can branch out to the more expensive and more specific books of which there are many.
big book and
small book
I always highly suggest The Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. It's a great book that is fascinating and contains just the right amount of detail for an intermediate book.
I can't do fancy links, but have fun. Enjoy having managers put new wines on the menu, and you show up and are just expected to know about them, when they could come from anywhere in the world (and what about a nose and palette for wine, liquor, beer and food, and how to pair them all together) If you don't think what I need to learn is complicated, why should I think what you need to learn is complicated?:
http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Bible-Karen-MacNeil/dp/1563054345/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372030268&sr=1-1&keywords=the+wine+bible
http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Grapes-Complete-Varieties-Including/dp/0062206362/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372030321&sr=1-8&keywords=wine+books