Jancis Robinsons Wine Course or Savor the Moment

Jancis Robinson's Wine Course: A Guide to the World of Wine, 2nd Edition

Author: Jancis Robinson

One of the world's most respected wine writers provides an introduction to the enjoyment of wine and an overview of the wines of the world in this companion volume to the acclaimed television series.

The huge array of wines available today can be exceedingly confusing to the novice or even experienced buyer. Anyone who enters a wine store is likely to be confronted by rows and rows of racks filled with endless choices. Where do you begin when all you want is a reasonable priced quality wine to serve with dinner?

Jancis Robinson can make anyone an expert, or at least an informed buyer, in short order. In this comprehensive guide to the wine producing countries of the world, she captures the flavor of each region's wines and gives her personal recommendations for the best names to look for. She also describes the distinctive characteristics of a broad range of grape varieties and looks at both the traditional and innovative methods used in winemaking. An up-to-date vintage guide makes selection even easier.

Designed to ensure that you get the most out of every glass, the Wine Course explains how to taste and store wine, suggests what to serve at home, and reveals how to order the best-value bottles in a restaurant. Full of infectious enthusiasm and lost of personal tips, this book will soon have you reaching for the corkscrew.

Other Details: 300 full-color illustrations 320 pages 8 x 8" Published 1996

there, and explaining not just how things are but giving the real explanation (not necessarily the same as the public relations pitch) of why they are that way.

As a subject for study, wine happens to come with an amazing amount of baggage, which we can choose to revel in or ignore. Its history stretches back past the Bronze Age, to at least 5500 years ago. Its geography encompasses all of the world's temperate zones (and quite a few of the tropical ones too). The wine business is conducted in some of the most beautiful corners of the world, and its personalities are some of the most colourful in any field of commercial activity. Wine is rich in religious symbolism, and has the unusual attribute of being able to last and evolve for centuries, providing a direct, tastable link with past generations. Yet today, wine production is a scientifically sophisticated business that is unusually open about what in many other businesses would be its secrets.

This book, which has been a seriously exciting project for me, aims to give you an insider's view of the world of wine. As I became involved in planning and then began writing, I realized not just how rapidly the world of wine has changed in the last decade or so, but how much less ignorant (I would certainly not say more knowledgeable) I am now—partly thanks to spending the last five years editing The Oxford Companion to Wine—and how much more insider information and advice I want to communicate. My hope is that in some small way this book will help its readers to get even more pleasure out of wine.

A Few Insider Tips to Set You on Your Way:

Wine amateurs may say opener . . .

But professional winos say corkscrew

Wine amateurs may say crate (of wine) . . .

But professional winos say case (= 12 bottles)

Wine amateurs may say drink (active verb)

But professional winos say taste

Wine amateurs may say champagne (for all fizzy wine) . . .

But professional winos say sparkling wine (for all fizzy wine except that made in the Champagne region in north east France)

Wine amateurs may think sediment in a bottle is a bad sign . . .

But professional winos know it's a sign of a producer who worships quality above cosmetics

Wine amateurs may think claret is any old red . . .

But professional winos know claret is a word used in Britain exclusively for red bordeaux

Wine amateurs may think Zinfandel is white . . .

But professional winos know Zinfandel's a red grape that no one wanted so someone cleverly began to make a very commercial off dry white out of it in California in the 1980s

Publishers Weekly

As elegant and meticulously laid out as a posh wine shop, this companion to the BBC series of the same title by Financial Times wine columnist Robinson brims with the kind of facts, advice and trivia that will likely enthrall aspiring oenophiles but may overwhelm dilettantes. Robinson, a congenial raconteur, divides this course into four long chapters, each providing a deep immersion into a different facet of the wine worldand each punctuated by splashy photographs and charts. "Getting the Most Out of Wine" demonstrates how to open, serve and order the stuff; "How Wine is Made" reveals how the grapes are harvested, fermented and bottled; the last chapters catalogue the hundreds of varieties of wine and the world's vineyards, from those in France and Italy to less prominent regions in Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand. The book is bursting with short glossaries and sidebars, addressing the esoteric (wine-scoring systems) and the pragmatic (pronunciation; varieties of corkscrews). A short vintage guide and an index are included, but no comprehensive glossary. Readers with income and patience enough for the trial and error that a wine education requires will find that this manual is best read over time, in conjunction with regular samplings of the wines showcased. The novice looking for a simple handbook to help navigate a wine retailer or a restaurant list may be better served by the Windows on the World Wine Course (see Notes, below). (Oct.)

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Getting the Most Out of Wine

The True Sense of Taste

How to Taste Wine

Tasting Terms

Becoming a Wine Taster

The Mechanics of Serving Wine

Serving the Right Bottle

Wine and Food

Wine and Health

Whether to Store Wine

How to Store Wine

Clues from the Package

Deciphering the Label

How to Buy the Right Bottle

Choosing Wine in a Restaurant

Some Special Wines

How Wine is Made

The Importance of Place

Does the Answer Lie in the Soil?

Growing Vines

The Wine Plant and its Fruit

The Vineyard Year

A Bluffer's Guide to Winemaking Jargon

The Winemaking Process

How Sparkling Wines are Made

How Sweet Wines are Made

Oak—Ingredient X

Wine Grape Varieties

The Vine Family

White Wine Varieties

Red Wine Varieties

The World of Wine

France

Bordeaux

Burgundy

Côte d'Or

Chablis

Côte Chalonnaise

Mâconnais and Beaujolais

Champagne

Alsace

Loire

Rhône

Provence and Corsica

South West France

Languedoc

Roussillon

Vins de Pays

Rest of France

Italy

North West Italy

North East Italy

Tuscany

Rest of Central Italy

Southern Italy and Islands

Spain

Rioja

Ribera del Duero

North East Spain

North West Spain

Central and Southern Spain

Sherry

Portugal

Port

Madeira

Germany

Austria

Switzerland

Central & Eastern Europe

Mediterranean Countries

USA

California

Washington

Oregon

Rest of North America

Chile

Rest of South America

Australia

South Australia

Victoria

New South Wales

Western Australia

Tasmania

New Zealand

South Africa

Other Countries

Vintage Guide

Where to Buy Wine

How to Find Out More

Picture Credits

Index

Author Biography: Jancis Robinson is the only British journalist to have qualified as a Master of Wine. She was the wine columnist for the Sunday Times from 1980 to 1986 and now has a regular column in both the Financial Times and the American based Wine Spectator magazine.

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Author: Junior League of Boca Raton

This menu-driven cookbook is filled with more than 300 recipes, stunning four-color photography, versatile entertaining ideas and great presentation tips. On location photography will highlight special menus aboard a yacht, by a waterfall, playing croquet, watching fireworks, overlooking a secret garden, on the polo fields, inside a tiled courtyard, under a beachside gazebo, and in a beautiful dining room. Cooking enthusiasts will enjoy both the quick and easy selections as well as the gourmet creations that are worth the time and effort. In addition to being a first-class cookbook, Savor the Moment is produced by the Junior League of Boca Raton and will raise funds to directly benefit numerous worthwhile community projects.