One of the most respected lecturers on wine tells you everything you need to know in a comprehensive, structured course. Although accessible to beginners, this new paperback edition also has enough depth to appeal to more experienced tasters and explores in detail how to taste and assess the quality of a wine. The big feature: nine practical tastings that guide the reader through tasting and comparing wines in every major style.
Essential Winetasting : The Complete Practical Winetasting Course
Description
Table of Contents
Before the bottle; Introduction 7; 1 You and your senses 8; Sight 8; Smell 12; Taste and tasting 16; Words and qualities 24; Values 29; 2 Viticulture and vinification 34; In the vineyard 34; The grape 36; Dry white winemaking 40; Sweet white winemaking 42; Red winemaking 44; Oak 47; Winemakers 49; In the bottle; 3 Naming wines 53; 4 White grapes and their wines 57; 5 Red grapes and their wines 82; 6 Sparkling and fortified wines 107; Sparkling wines 107; Sherry 110; Port 112; Madeira 114; In the glass; 7 The tastings 117; How to use the tastings 117; Practicalities 119; Basic tastes and wine structure 120; Tasting 1: style and quality in dry whites 122; Tasting 2: terroir and quality in dry whites 126; Tasting 3: dry whites: Old World v New World 130; Tasting 4: sparkling wines: style and quality 136; Tasting 5: style and tannin in reds 140; Tasting 6: terroir and quality in reds 144; Tasting 7: reds: Old World v New World 148; Tasting 8: medium-dry and sweet whites 152; Tasting 9: sherry, port and Madeira 156; Reference; 9 Maps and fact boxes 165; Vintages 166; Glossary of tasting terms 184; Index 188
Author Description
Michael Schuster trained in Bordeaux, where he gained the University's Tasting Diploma; he then set up his own wine school in London. He is the author of the highly successful Understanding Wine and he writes for Decanter and Wine International. As passionate about teaching wine as he is about the drink itself, he has been described by Janics Robinson as, "A first-rate wine teacher".