This essential guide begins with the fundamentals of wine in easy-to-absorb hits of information and pragmatic, everyday tips--key varietals and winemaking regions, how to taste, when to save and when to splurge, and how to set up a wine tasting at home. Aldo then teaches you how to take your wine knowledge to the next level and evolve your palate, including techniques on building a "flavor library," a cheat sheet to good (and great) vintages (and...

Why is wine so difficult? It might be because we in the industry have long used ridiculous tasting notes to describe wine, even though these descriptions fail to encapsulate all that a wine offers. "Notes of blackberries, tobacco, and leather." How does this odd list of a few flavors help you decide if you will like a wine? "Wine Hack" offers a new way forward. Learn wine like we in the industry learn wine. Spoiler: lots of tasting! This interactive...

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History houses, amid its illustrious artifacts, two bottles of wine: a 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. These are the wines that won at the now-famous Paris Tasting in 1976, where a panel of top French wine experts compared some of France's most famous wines with a new generation of California wines. Little did they know the wine industry would be...

"Can't smell honeysuckle in that glass of sauvignon blanc, or wondering which end of a bottle of chianti is the "nose"? With this immersive guide to all things wine you'll soon become an expert. Discover which wines you like and why, read about the journey from grape to glass, and build on your understanding with vibrant infographics in this fresh take on the world of wine. Explore red wines and white, and those all-important food and wine pairings,...

Napa Valley, 1976. For connoisseur Steven Spurrier, there is no finer art than French wine. But rumors bandy about of a new California wine country that holds the future of the vine. Positive the small Napa wineries are no match for established French vintages, Spurrier challenges the Americans to a blind taste test. He finds the valley full of ambitious, and talented, novice vintners like Jim Barrett and his son Bo. He realizes his publicity stunt...

"Now completely revised and updated, this new edition of the essential consumer guide to wine features all the most current information for today's wine landscape. The authors, longtime wine educators at The Culinary Institute of America, have added all the latest and most relevant information to their award-winning book, including new picks for the best regional producers, off-the-beaten-path finds, and bargain bottles. With a practical, anti-snob...

"There are so many wines in the world. Open new doors as you open new bottles and learn how to find the ones that are right for you."--Container.